Varun Gandhi: Albatross round BJP neck
by Sandhya Jain on 30 Mar 2009 12 Comments

If politics is the art of winning power by convincing people that you have the ability to wield it wisely, then BJP may as well pack its bags. Having closed its ears to common sense and reason, the party has permitted an absolute non-entity to hijack its agenda and eclipse the persona of its prime ministerial candidate.


Unless prompt remedial action is taken, Mr. L.K. Advani, who ruthlessly hacked all opposition within the party to emerge as declared prime ministerial candidate months in advance of the polls, may find himself in the wilderness even before elections are notified!


It will be a sad denouement for the man who literally changed the face of Indian politics in the last decade of the 20th century by leading the Ram Janmabhumi movement under the electrifying promise of ‘mandir wahin banayenge’ accompanied by the steadying assurance of ‘justice for all, appeasement of none.’ It gave sincere hope to many that the coming 21st century would be a Hindu Century.


Now, the temple is a remote dream; a grave injustice is perceived to have been done; acts of bizarre appeasement have been undertaken. And the BJP is astride two fast-running horses…


I will be brief, so as not to digress from the main purpose of this article. On 26 November 2008, Mumbai witnessed a commando attack from the sea, which held the nation hostage for three long days. In that heightened atmosphere of Jihadi triumphalism, when sane and decent Muslims mutely shared a justified national rage, Mr. Advani saw fit to visit Ajmer and the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti on 1 December 2008.


The custodians of the dargah would have understood a quiet postponement of the visit, but Mr. Advani went ahead with what was clearly an act of minority appeasement. Today, he cannot expect it to bail him out of the public outrage unleashed by the Pilibhit BJP candidate. There is no quid pro quo for communal insensitivity in any quarter.


Hindu ethics


It is a critical element of the Hindu civilisational ethos, enshrined in the Hindu code of ethics in War, that the fight will be as fair as possible and ‘dirty tricks’ shunned except as last recourse. This Hindu code of honour and valour was best exemplified by the Rajput warriors of northern India, and this may explain the visible stress on the face of party president Rajnath Singh as he defends the indefensible Gandhi upstart. 


As Mr. Advani has now broken his silence to blame the media for making a “poster boy” out of Varun Gandhi, it is entirely his call. Ms. Maneka Gandhi, who represented Pilibhit for FIVE TERMS before moving to Aonla and arranging its gift to her son for his electoral debut (literally a watan jagir), has blamed a Muslim policeman for the violence in Pilibhit on Saturday 28 March.


The sitting Pilibhit MP said Inspector Parvez Mian alone injured 25 (out of 45) of Varun's supporters. This startling allegation was sharply rebutted by Pilibhit police chief Prakash D, who said Parvez was not even present in Pilibhit that day, as he had been transferred to Bilaspur. This was reiterated by the Pilibhit district magistrate Ajay Chouhan.


What is certain now is that Maneka Gandhi has reinforced the language and sentiments invoked by her son’s speech, which he half-owns and half-denies, in a half-clever way.


It is for Mr. Advani to decide if he wants to risk his historical chance to be Prime Minister for the drop-outs of the Indira Gandhi family. Maneka Gandhi’s widely reported statement should be enough for the BJP to DROP BOTH MOTHER AND SON and move on with the election with the real issues and leaders on whose shoulders it seeks to rise to power – or it will be blown out of the arena by this unseemly controversy and unworthy duo.


BSP drops faulty candidate


In this, he could take a leaf out from the book of Ms. Mayawati and the Congress party. The BSP has already changed its candidate for East Delhi, because the man given the ticket failed or refused to interact with party workers. Perceived as a non-starter, Behenji simply booted him out. It is this ability to know when and how quickly to apply the guillotine that makes a leader, and here Ms. Mayawati is miles ahead of everyone else.


Congress too, is planning to replace cricketer Madan Lal, chosen to contest from Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh, because voters are unable to connect with him.


You don’t always need a survey to know – you need the ability to sense the mood of the people. Notwithstanding the internet euphoria whipped up by PIOs in Britain and America, most voters don’t approve of Varun Gandhi.


Maneka Gandhi: non-performing asset


For BJP to claim that it decided to field Varun Gandhi because the Election Commission suggested that he was an undesirable, is tantamount to saying that BJP is opposed to probity in public life, promotes thuggery and all forms of unbecoming crudity.


Before we go into the impugned speech, it is worthwhile to recall that Varun Gandhi and his mother, Maneka, are in the BJP only because of their estrangement from the family of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and current Congress president Sonia Gandhi. In all the years that she has fattened herself upon the BJP gravy train, Maneka has served no useful purpose in challenging the presence of her Italian-born relative in Indian politics, and has offered no useful service in any sector.


Supposedly an animal rights activist, she has never been seen even marginally in any instance of provocative cow slaughter in the capital alone over the past one year, which the Vishwa Hindu Parishad routinely protests against when animal carcasses are found.


Maneka Gandhi has never found time to visit affected villages where aggrieved villagers clash with the police to force registering of cases against this evil. Not a single newspaper column authored by her highlights these brutalities and provocations in the capital itself, much less in the Pilibhit constituency for which her son now sheds crocodile tears. In fact, each and every allegation made by him is an indictment of his mother’s record as a five-term MP – she has been a complete non-performer!


A gau-shala once run by Maneka’s NGO some years ago was surrendered to the Delhi Government as unviable. It would be interesting to know at what margin she would have found the business viable as it is obvious she has no commitment to actually caring for homeless animals.


Maneka came into the limelight by taking up cudgels on behalf of street dogs. Since then, many NGOs are thriving on government funds for supposedly sterilizing and minding the health of street animals; yet the dog population has reached menacing proportions, and with it animal violence towards children and adults. Her noisiness has only encouraged the authorities to do nothing.


Sanjay Gandhi


Sanjay Gandhi was reputed only for his thuggery and anti-Left leaning, which led him to press for a pro-American foreign policy and an amazing anti-Muslim policy domestically. With hindsight, it seems possible he was a pawn in the pre-planned war on terror, a test case to see if a changed leadership could give India a regime that would support Western depredations against the resource-rich Muslim world.


To my mind, it is no accident that the Sonia Gandhi-led UPA voted against Iran in the International Atomic Energy Agency; Sanjay Gandhi was very close to his Italian sister-in-law. India is also drawing too close to the West in its defence purchases, despite the experience of being denied spares in crises, and even signed the disgraceful nuclear deal despite denial of fuel for Tarapur.


To return to Sanjay Gandhi, however, he is most remembered as an extra-constitutional power behind the throne in the early seventies, a man who pushed himself into the Prime Minister’s Office and started issuing orders. Eventually, he is credited with pushing his mother to impose the Emergency and arrest all opposition leaders in a midnight swoop.


Besides press censorship, the Emergency is most famous for the vulgar campaign of forced and coerced sterilization, in which hapless male youths were grabbed and forcefully sterilized, and school teachers and medical staff forced to bring ‘cases’ for sterilization by offering incentives from their own salaries (otherwise their salaries were withheld). When the campaign touched Delhi’s Muslim community, all hell broke loose.


This was accompanied by demolitions at Turkman Gate, in the name of beautifying the city, but actually just to humiliate the Muslim community. Civilised India was shocked and the rest is history.


Son of Sanjay Gandhi


This was the legacy that Varun Gandhi sought to invoke when he made his infamous speeches referring to ‘k…’ (colloquial for circumcised males, which in India means Muslims, not Jews); ‘pakad pakad ke nasbandi’ (forced sterilization); and ‘haath kaat doonga’ (with chop off hands).


Worse, he tried to turn Hindu revulsion against the Emergency and all it stood for into approval for blanket anti-Muslim sentiment and action, on account of India’s current troubles with jihad. I may add here that a number of foreigners and PIOs are active in Delhi (and other cities, no doubt) fuelling precisely such sentiments and virtually asking Indians to sign on for the global war on jihad. But if creating ‘Hindu terrorists’ at Malegaon does not equalize the problem of jihad, a policy of blind assault on every Muslim citizen does not compensate for or address the problem of attack upon the Indian State and citizenry.


This argument, in fact, reminds one of the practice of Islam in Pakistan’s tribal regions, where the concept of blood money for atonement of sins or harm done was twisted into one of vicarious punishment for offence caused by ones kinsmen. That is why poor Mukhtaran Bi was raped, an incident that outraged the Pakistani people.
   

Varun Gandhi’s alleged recipe has no resonance in Hindu civilisation or history. Another example that comes to mind is that of Adolf Hitler, a product of western civilisation which rests upon genocide (North and South America, Australia, African slave trade, etc.)


In the Hindu pad padshahi of Chhatrapati Shivaji, still a living memory in the Hindu heart, there was no such attitude towards Muslims in the kingdom, and many of its able generals and soldiers were Muslims.


Even if we stipulate for the sake of argument that Varun Gandhi did not say the words found in the CD, what about his BODY LANGUAGE? Television footage showed him wearing a black Muslim sherwani and white churidar (trying no doubt to remind people of the eminently forgettable Jawaharlal Nehru), flailing both arms straight above his head, hitting the air in cutting movements, and shrieking the disputed words.


The only other politician I have ever seen raising and using hands that way is the late Benazir Bhutto, and it seems quite likely that the Western sources that mentored her (and now mentor her son at Oxford) also tutored the young Gandhi in Vilayat. Certainly, these were peculiar gestures; Nawaz Sharif does not make them, nor does anyone else in this part of the world.


So what were those highly emotive words that accompanied those wild gestures? Come on, boy, show some courage of conviction, if you have any.


Election Commission and BJP doublespeak 


It is little wonder that the Election Commission rejected out of hand the claim that the video clips were somehow “doctored.” It found him guilty of creating communal animosity and asked the police to register a case against him (done with alacrity by the Mayawati regime, which wisely refrained from heightening tensions by gratuitous speech), and finally, it issued notices to him and the BJP.


Caught on the backfoot, BJP fumbled and said Varun was not the declared candidate so far, as the election process had not begun. Though this was not true, it was allowed to pass as it was believed that the party would drop this unrefined yokel from the London School of Economics and move on. As recently as 20 March 2009, the party begged the Election Commission to take back the notice served on it over the alleged communal remarks, and repeatedly announced that it had distanced itself from the impugned speeches. 


Later, on 22 March, a full hearing of the Election Commission formally discussed the Varun episode and prima facie found that the case against him was sound. The Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami said it was for Varun to prove that the CD was doctored; he urged the BJP not to field him as a candidate. 


Instead of pausing to consider the issue, some invisible strings appear to have been pulled by unknown godfathers, and the BJP jumped unconvincingly to Varun’s defence, insisting he would now be the official candidate because the Election Commission had exceeded its mandate.


BJP MP Balbir Punj made utterly extraneous remarks against the CEC-designate by saying he was known to be close to Ms. Sonia Gandhi. This is true, but the recommendation against Varun was by the full EC and was delivered by the much-respected Mr. Gopalaswami. Hence BJP owes the nation an explanation for publicly diminishing the prestige of the EC in this manner. 


There is also the aspect of doublespeak. When the party feared it might face direct action against it, it dissociated from the speech. But when that danger passed, it blatantly associated with the person. But you cannot have it both ways, and the party would thus have alienated the Muslim community in which Mr. Advani had personally invested so much, without aligning the Hindu community unambiguously in its favour.


Worse, the party has lost the goodwill and respect of both the current CEC and his successor! Talk about double jeopardy!


Sanjay Gandhi’s shoot out


In the 1977 elections, it was soon evident that defeat was looming. Sympathy was needed. One day, there was an attack upon the jeep in which Sanjay was riding, and bullets shattered the windscreen…


Sanjay was supposed to have been in the front seat when shot at by unknown assailants. But police officers dismissed the event as concocted, for had Sanjay been sitting as stated, the bullets would have lodged in his abdomen. As it happened, he did not get a scratch, and the incident was dismissed as an emotional drama that failed; he lost the election.


Certainly Varun was more successful in his rent-a-crowd act. After he withdrew his bail plea in the Delhi High Court, so-called supporters clashed with the police and tried to block roads. On 28 March, he courted arrest at Pilibhit in a dramatic fashion, and his followers unnecessarily indulged in violence against the police, forcing them to resort to firing.


This is reminiscent of the recent behaviour of Tamil Nadu lawyers in the High Court premises, when sustained misbehaviour forced the police to take action against violent advocates. Hence the question may legitimately be asked if there is any external agency instigating unrest in India, particularly the tendency of unruly elements to directly confront and provoke the police forces.


Maneka challenge and BJP impotence


The BJP is now truly in the dock. It must take a stand on Pilibhit MP Maneka Gandhi’s assertion – though she was not personally present – that a Muslim police officer, Parvez Mian, was personally responsible for firing upon 25 of Varun’s supporters, out of a total of 45 allegedly injured. Even if the allegation is true, this was not the manner in which it should have been stated.


What we have here, however, is a pattern of behaviour by late Sanjay Gandhi, Pilibhit MP Maneka Gandhi, and the denied but coyly owned statements of Varun Gandhi.


And we have the targetting of the Police.


BJP will have to disown both – or risk communalizing every institution the country depends upon for security in these dangerous days.


The party must also understand that no one is impressed by the rented crowds that happily wreck mayhem everywhere. We have seen them in the Coloured Revolutions in the former Soviet Republics, and closer home in the dethronement of King Gyanendra of Nepal.


Parvesh Varma and Kirit Somaiya


So, as he takes the call, Mr. Advani might like to consider why the BJP which could not find any seat in north India for Mr. Parvesh Varma, son of late Sahib Singh Varma, is so ready to stake everything for the intemperate Varun Gandhi. Mr. Parvesh Varma represents a major caste and region in Delhi, and was by all accounts a deserving candidate.


Then there was the controversy about Ms. Poonam Rao, daughter of late Pramod Mahajan, trying to upstage a veteran like Mr. Kirit Somaiya (one of the few performers in Parliament). Here, it is to Mr. Advani’s credit that the better man won, but he must answer why there was such a lengthy battle in the first place.


Something is gravely amiss in the BJP. It has lost its character and sense of direction. Unless the party quickly takes the right turn, Mr. Advani could find himself walking out of the gates of History, and into Oblivion.


The author is Editor, www.vijayvaani.com

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Im a Vijayvaani regular & always find your articles interesting - be it in this portal, The Pioneer or The Organiser. But I must say did not like this one. Varun must not be held responsible for anything his parents did. Pranam.
Kuna Mohanty
March 30, 2009
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Sandhya Ji,

Your article has about 3/4th of the content that has nothing to do with Varun Gandhi, but only menat to create a negative reading energy which you then somehow divert towards him. You begin with LK Advani's pseudo-secularism of visiting Dargah and his PM-ambitions, then go into Sanjay Gandhi's bio, and ineffectiveness of Maneka Gandhi, and then divert all of it onto Varun Gandhi. What has his speech to do with Sanjay and Emergency?

"pakad pakad ke nasbandi" is a phrase you coyly attributed to Varun. I have not come across any video/audio/text attributed to Varun where he referred to it. Can you provide that for your readers?

You imagine his wearing a black Kurta/ Sherwani on that rural-speech, was to do with projecting his Nehru identity? (where was the rose?) That is Funny to say the least! The audience was a rural setting and none that he was saying was in anyway in mould of Nehru!! In fact he even mocked Nehru-Gandhi pacifism saying "Koi Ek Thappad Maare...Gaal aage...bewakoofi kii baat". Sorry but your assertion that he wanted to project his nehru identity with his dress does seem like a long stretch of an anyway weak argument.

Equally funny was your appeal to "Hindu Ethics", and mentioned Rajputs and Shivaji!!

You ignored Maharana Pratap's treatment of his fellow Rajput Mansingh when the latter arrived in Udaipur to negotiate the terms of truce on behalf of Moghals. Pratap demonstrated how a proud Hindu should behave when he not only refused to receive Mansingh or dine with him, but also had his associates heap insults on him by calling him a "saraputa" (son of brother of wife) of a musalman. Also read Pratap's own words in his letters that are available and check out the politically correct Hindu Ethics that you are looking for in Varun!!

You refer to Shivaji. I am sure you have not read Shivraj Bhushan, for if you would read it you would see there is no comparision of how Bhushan, Shivaji's biographer, used to refer to musalmaans, and how Varun Gandhi did!! If you find Varun's speech offensive, then you would also find Bhushan very repugnant for your taste. By the way, Shivaji never trusted his muslim generals. They were only hired mercenaries and always kept in check, their strength counterbalanced by stronger Maratha warriors in each of the muslim troops.

Sandhyaji, being an avid reader and admiorer of ALL that you write, this article comes as a rude disappointment. unexpected from you. Namaste.
S
March 30, 2009
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I aslo feel that your article on Varun is highly dsappointing. I am a regular reader of your articles and I am afriad that this piece is totally unreasonable.
Venkat
March 30, 2009
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Dear Sandhya, I was very suspicious about the Varun Gandhi situation not so long back and was told by a friend (who was neither for nor against the person, but only interested in seeing what the effect of the situation would be on the BJP) to hear Varun Gandhi speak in full and explain himself, rather than read news snippets in the sold-out christian media. I ask you to do the same now and to form your own conclusions. Please do watch these very short videos. I don't want to tell you what exactly to look for or listen for, for fear of indirectly influencing you. But there's more than words in there that I got out of it. 1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq1Xhni4AtY&feature=related 2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXKGbA6-nTc
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4vsrAkWoAs&feature=related 4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3yrOCdh7PY&feature=rec-HM-fresh+div
NightStalker
March 30, 2009
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I agree with Ms. Sandhya. IN an earlier instance, did not Sri Advani himself keep away from the election process, when a case was filed against him (was it the 'hawala case'? Varun also should be made to withdraw, till he proves that he had not said anything offensive, to maintain 'probity' in public life. BJP should prove that it is different from Congress in maintaining values in poilitics.
S.Raghuraman
March 30, 2009
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My full sympathies with Sandhyaji.Why is the chap hanging on when he has accepted NDTV lifetime award?
JaiBharat
March 30, 2009
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I agree with what some of the readers above are saying: this article does not seem as reasonable and thoughtful as many of Sandhyaji's other articles. Yes, I agree that lumpenism and Muslim-bashing are not what Hinduism and Hindutva are all about (I have even criticized the Gujarat anti-Muslim violence in my article in the Sita Ram Goel Commemoration volume published by Voice of India, New Delhi), some of my very best friends are Muslims, and I oppose America's role in Iraq and its intended actions against Iran, etc. And I feel that Christian proselytization and western cultural brainwashing of our Indian youth are infinitely greater dangers to India and Hinduism than Islamic terrorism, terrible and monstrous though that terrorism is.
But, at the same time, the ugly face of Islamic fundamentalism and its potential dangers to India cannot be overlooked. See what is happening in Pakistan today. If Varun Gandhi has decided to take on a Hindu agenda, I fully support him. If he is doing it in a wrong way, it is unfortunate, and he should be corrected.
But, as one of the letters above (anonymous?) points out, the article blames Sanjay, Maneka and Varun Gandhi for everyone's crimes. Most incredible of all is the allegation that the Sonia Gandhi led UPA government voted against Iran in the IAEA because Sonia Gandhi was close to Sanjay Gandhi, and Sanjay Gandhi was pro-American! It is news that the two brothers and their wives were even close to each other, but that Sanjay Gandhi's views should still be influencing Sonia in such matters a quarter of a century after his death is a bit too much.
Also, many people, like myself, who were strongly anti-Indira and anti-Sanjay when they were still alive, now feel in hindsight that Indira Gandhi was the greatest (with Shastri) Prime Minister India ever had; and Sanjay Gandhi's ideas and priorities (family planning, afforestation, literacy, etc.) were just what India needed and needs. That his policies were implemented badly is a fact, and his arrogance and ruthlessness may have been responsible, but to give that arrogance and ruthlessness a communal angle is simply not right. That the sterilizations in Delhi and demolitions at Turkmen gate were done solely "to humiliate the Muslim community" is something which would have sounded more appropriate coming from the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, Delhi.
About the present fracas, I do not know exactly what was said by Varun Gandhi, and if he indeed said things about forcible nasbandi of Muslims, etc., that is certainly wrong of him; and the whole affair is an unfortunate one which does not bode well for Indian politics. But the whole tone of the article, that the BJP is being taken for a ride by a mother-and-son duo and must be warned against them seems to me a case of looking at the matter upside down: many reports suggest that it is the mother-and-son duo (who, as pointed out in the above article, have been continuously winning from Pilibhit, and did not really require this gimmick to win votes) who are being taken for a ride by the BJP which has a long and consistent history of playing both secular and firebrand-Hindu games simultaneously to win votes. It is rumoured that Varun was tutored by some BJP elements. The BJP may burn its fingers in this affair, but it may perhaps be Maneka and Varun who have burnt their fingers even more; and they may actually have the BJP to blame for it. The BJP has, in any case, betrayed Hindus time and again, and if the Varun affair works as their nemesis and prevents them from making a comeback, I for one will only thank Varun for it. I only hope Varun wins from his seat, and that he really takes up the cause of Hindus, but without this lumpen approach.
But, the present events in Pakistan (today's events in Lahore, for example)
shrikant g talageri
March 31, 2009
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Sandhyaji,
Please withdraw this article...It has hurt many hindus.,who had almost given up the wait for someone who will take on the muslim bullies head-on..till they heard varun speak......please dont malign him and his brave mother.
naresh sehgal
April 03, 2009
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Sandhya Jain should stop pretending to representing nationalist interest. Varun's speech was effectively doctored and quoted out of context. His statement against Jihadis is apt and timely. Demonizing Sanjay or Maneka Gandhi and casting the sins of the father on the son who was only 3 months old at the time of his death is positively perverse writing. Sanjay Gandhi for all his faults tried to find solutions to the demographic siege by Islam and launched an afforestration program, hitherto unknown in Congress Raj.

BJP by neglecting core constituency and lusting for Muslim vote put a dagger into their chances. When Muslims couldn't vote for Atal Behari, will they really vote for L K Advani, the architect of the Rath Yatra? What is the reason, BJP has slipped from 58 to 10 in UP. Sandhya Jain has no answers
Azygos
April 10, 2009
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This is probably the beginning of the end for the BJP. From being a party of discipline, it became a party "off" discipline. ## The states BJP controlled haven't made much progress except for Gujarat. Even in Gujarat, Congress has put up an impressive show. ## The BJP has been wiped out in quite a few states. The BJP will need to do serious introspection if it wants to survive the next 5 years. ##
Madam has probably more brains in her little finger than the BJP think-tank put together. She will make sure that the BJP is weakened, Hindu minded leaders are wiped out, use media to her advantage and ofcourse a free hand to missionaries.
Its time for some old BJP leaders to pick up kamandal and take sanyas.
Srinath
May 16, 2009
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Ms. Sandhya Ji
I do like your views from time to time. What you have done in this article "may" be right for your thinking. One needs to take a view of whole scenario to become a candid journalist.
I would like you take a whole some view on the behavior of Christianity and Islam on the basis of the incidents that have been reported. I agree your views about BJP and its Leadership if you have found out what the Congress Candidate and SP, BSP candidate have said reported along with this article. A Congress candidate uttered in Nizamambad ( Andhra Pradesh) against Varun Gandhi don't you that is also venom pouring by Congress and like Mayavati and her coterie has applied NSA against Varun shuld also have been slapped against the Congress President in Andhra Pradesh. It sould have been justified if you would have compared these two versions in the same light.

I always welcome constructive criticism. But what you done is only blamed BJP and left the Congress and Muslim behavior untouched. Be fair and write another article with compare and contrast.

Dr. Ambekar.
Dr. Ambekar
May 20, 2009
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Maneka has done nothing of any value in all the years she's been in politics. Being a Central minister her contribution to the country was passing inane legislation by which her own NGO could fatten itself on tax payers money. Thanks to her India is now a country with every type of animal suffering and dying on the streets. Her knowledge of animals, wildlife and the environment is worse than a 3 year old's. Unfortunately few have raised a voice against her stupidity. As a person she is crude and vindictive and I know this from personal experience.
Meghna Uniyal
June 24, 2009
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