All posts by subhash gatade

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Get Clicked With Dead Animals for Wards’ Scholarship, Dalits told

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The chief architect of Indian constitution Dr. B. R. Ambedkar had declared in 1948 ‘democracy in India is a top-dressing on an Indian soil, which is essentially undemocratic.’ How true this is, even after sixty years of Indian democracy! Why have all the legal provisions, and valiant struggles of dalits to emancipate themselves failed to annihilate Caste system? As the ruling elites of India celebrate their arrival on the world scene, these are the skeletons in the cupboards of their rule they are most ashamed to admit.  Continue reading Get Clicked With Dead Animals for Wards’ Scholarship, Dalits told →

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No Country for Visually Challenged Persons ?

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Yesterday I got a call from Lucknow regarding an article I had penned down for a Hindi newspaper.

The focus of the write-up was the plight of four candidates – all of them visually challenged – who had cleared the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) examinations way back in 2008, scored more marks than many ‘normal’ students and were still waiting for appointment letters. The Commission as everybody knows is India’s central agency authorised to conduct civil services and other important examinations.

The caller said that he was one among the four and shared with me the long struggle he along with others were engaged in to get their due. Apathy exhibited by people in the higher echelons of the Commission as far as visually challenged persons are concerned is really disturbing. And it was not for the first time that it had failed to give appointment letters to such candidates. Merely three years back Ravi Prakash Gupta had to approach the highest courts of the country namely the Supreme Court to get his appointment letter. Last February it was the Prime Minister’s Office  which had to intervene so that seven candidates from similar category could join their duty. Continue reading No Country for Visually Challenged Persons ? →

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NaMo NaMo or Namaste Sada Vatsale ..

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Image Courtesy : http://www.truthofgujarat.com

 

It is now time for NaMo NaMo in BJP.

To quote a newspaper, Hindutva poster boy Narendra Modi has been declared candidate for Prime Minister’s post by the highest body of the Party.

As planned earlier there were celebrations at different party offices of the BJP spread over the country. It is a different matter that the party could not hide the fact that it was not a unanimous decision rather a majority decision. The ‘tallest leader’ or ‘mentor’ of the party L K Advani made his displeasure clear in a letter the very same day. And not only Advani till a day ago three members of the highest body – whose strength is 12 only – were vehemently opposing the proposal that the candidature be announced immediately and wanted it to be deferred till the assembly elections to five states were over. Two amongst them – Ms Sushma Swaraj and Murli Manohar Joshi – could be persuaded to join the anointment at the last moment only.

The comical part of the whole anointment has been the gentleman who had only a week ago declared that he would like to serve the state – where he was elected CM for the third time – till 2017, had no qualms in dropping all pretensions and rush to Delhi for the coronation. Continue reading NaMo NaMo or Namaste Sada Vatsale .. →

Feminism, Identities

Goodbye Sunila Abeysekara

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Sri Lanka’s top UN Human Rights award winner Sunila Abeysekara died at a private hospital in Colombo on Monday afternoon after a long battle with cancer.

A founder of Sri Lanka’s feminist movement, Ms. Abeysekara was a leading socialist activist for minority rights, women’s, workers and peasants rights. Recently she was prominent on Lankan human rights issues at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. She was also a noted Sinhala folk and opera singer. Ms. Abeysekera, daughter of the late Charles Abeysekara, a noted human rights and social activist, founded Inform, a rights-based NGO. – Ends-

(Sunday Times ,Sri Lanka,  Monday, 09 September 2013 19:02)

It was late 2002 when Delhi witnessed a public meeting of a different kind at Rajendra Bhavan. Hundreds of people from different walks of life – activists, writers, political workers, young students – had gathered there to witness the unveiling of an interim report prepared by an international panel of feminist activists which had visited Gujarat between 14th and 17th December, investigated the violence – particularly the physical and sexual – inflicted upon women since 27th February 2002.

The interim report prepared by the ‘International Initiative for Justice in Gujarat’ unequivocally stated : “this violence, which reflects a longer and larger genocidal project, in our view constitutes a crime against humanity and satisfies the legal definition of genocide, both of which are crimes of the most serious dimension under international law.” (http://www.onlinevolunteers.org/gujarat/reports/iijg/interimreport.htm)

The panelists included leading feminist scholars and activists from different parts of the world.

It was the first time that one had a chance to listen to Sunila Abeysekara. Continue reading Goodbye Sunila Abeysekara →

Bad ideas

Modi’s ‘Vanzara’ Moment : Encounter killings as State Policy?

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Resignation letters of suspended officers – who are in jail under serious charges-  are never a cause of concern for the powers that be. But with Dahyaji Gobarji Vanzara, suspended DIG of Gujarat police and head of its Anti Terrorist Squad, who once happened to be very close to the powers that be and has the potential of further embarrassing them, situation is entirely different. It is not for nothing that the government led by Narendra Modi has decided to reject the said resignation by not forwarding it to the Central government.

Imagine a murder accused sitting in jail who wants to leave the government service and the state government – which has received enough opprobrium because of these murders – wants to keep the accused in service. The only logical explanation seems to be that the accused officer must be privy to secrets which the government does not want to divulge in public. It is a known fact that till his arrest, Vanzara had been privy to the entire goings on in Gujarat since 2002, which included 2002 riot investigations which were handled by the crime branch, the Pandya murder case and the Akshardham attack, apart from the fake encounters. Continue reading Modi’s ‘Vanzara’ Moment : Encounter killings as State Policy? →

Identities, Politics, Right watch

Modi Goes To London

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Good news is followed by a flood of bad news.

Narendra Modi, the ‘architect’ of today’s Gujarat, must be realising the truth of this dictum despite the fact that the corporate media – to quote an analyst – ‘loves’ him.

Whether it is the growing resistance of the peasantry inside the state to his vision of development, compelling him to withdraw a major chunk of villages from the much discussed Mandal-Becharaji Special Investment Region (SIR), or the crude manner in which his government’s anti Dalit stance is coming to the fore, the signals are definitely ominous. Continue reading Modi Goes To London →

Bad ideas

FTII Students’ Association Calls for Solidarity : Against violence by fascist forces

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Students’ Association, Film and Television Institute of India, Law College Road, Pune

On the 21st of August 2013 students of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and Yugpath, Pune organized a screening of ‘Jai Bhim Comrade’, followed by a discussion with Anand Patwardhan and a performance by members of the Kabir Kala Manch. At the close of this event, five students of FTII were physically attacked by twelve members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

Maharashtra has for centuries produced socially progressive activists. Dr. Narendra Dabholkar was one among them. The event on the 21st was organized by the students of FTII to also pay homage to Dr. Narendra Dabholkar. It is unacceptable that an attack of this nature can be inflicted on students for organizing cultural events, in a state, which has a rich and diverse cultural tradition.

This is not an incident in isolation. The attacks on Amdavad ni Gufa an art gallery in Ahmedabad and the cancellation of Sanjay Kak’s film at Symbiosis College of Arts and Commerce, Pune are recent examples of mindless violence by right-wing fascist groups. It is critical to challenge the growing impunity with which fascist groups are intolerant of artists, thinkers, students and any individual who are either opposed or not inclined to their politics. Such attacks by any fascist force violate the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression. At a time when such attacks are becoming increasingly routine we appeal to the student community and all concerned individuals to register their protest.

On the 26th, this Monday, we are organizing a Solidarity March starting from FTII Campus, Law College Road to Omkareshwar Chowk at 4 PM. This march is a protest against the assassination of Dr. Narendra Dabholkar, the attack against the five FTII students, and all other acts of mindless violence by fascist forces. We demand that those guilty of attacking the FTII students be brought to justice and the charges against the FTII students be dropped immediately. Join us in solidarity as we peacefully march to celebrate the right to democratic dialogue and reclaim the right to expression.

We appeal to students and free thinking individuals across the country to voice their protest. We urge you to use your art, your words and your ideas in defiance of such fascist forces.

Vikas Urs

General Secretary

Students’ Association, F.T.I.I

Contact- 09158737954,

ftiistudentsbody@gmail.com,

http://ftiistudentsbody.blogspot.com

 

 

Bad ideas

FTII Students’ Statement on the Attack on them by the ABVP in Pune

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FTII Students’ Association Press Release, 22/08/13
 
Five students of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) were attacked outside of the National Film Archives of India (NFAI) on Wednesday 21/08/13 by the Akhila Bharateeya Vidyarti Parishad (ABVP).
 
The attack took place soon after the screening of Anand Patwardhan’s documentary Jai Bheem Comrade and the performance of Kabir Kala Manch at NFAI. The programme was organized by the FTII student’s body in association with Yugpath, a youth forum based in Pune. This was the  first public performance of Kabir Kala Manch after two and a half years.
 
The five students attacked are Shameen a second year cinematography student, Ansar Sha a third year cinematography student, Kislay a third year Editing student, Sriram Raja also a third year Editing student and Ajayan a third year Sound student.
 
The screening of the documentary and the performance by Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) was finalized two weeks ago. There was a request to cancel the programme from various quarters respecting the call for bandh as a mark of protest against the murder of anti-superstition activist Narendra Dhabolkar. But Yugpath and the FTII student’s body decided to stick to their plan and go ahead with the screening and performance as a mark of respect and homage to Mr. Dhabolkar. Continue reading FTII Students’ Statement on the Attack on them by the ABVP in Pune →
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Assassination of an Activist : Who Killed Dr Narendra Dabholkar?

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REPLUG: Narendra Dabholkar -- Duty to Develop Scientific Temper | NewsClick           ( Photo : Courtesy ‘Newsclick)                                                                   “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

– Albert Einstein

Words have an uncanny ability of impinging on the receiver with clinical detachment. It is upto the receiver to unpack them or try to derive meaning out of them. It is still difficult to get over the sense of grief and shock one experienced when one received the news of the assassination of renowned rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar on the streets of Pune on Tuesday 20 th August.

Continue reading Assassination of an Activist : Who Killed Dr Narendra Dabholkar? →

Everyday Life, Metropolis

सार्वजनिक जगहों पर सामूहिक कब्ज़े की संस्कृति : किशोर

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Guest post by Kishore

दिल्ली के उत्तर-पश्चिम में स्थित रोहिणी का इलाका लाखों मध्यम और निम्न मध्यम वर्ग परिवारों का बसेरा है. कुछ समय पहले यहाँ मेहनतकश मज़दूर वर्ग के नुमाइंदे भी झुग्गी-झोपडियों में रहा करते थे जिन्होने  रोहिणी  नाम के इस उपनगर को बसाया था. पर पिछले कुछ सालों में इन झुग्गियों को उजाड़ कर दिल्ली के बाहरी हिस्सों में पुनर्वासित किया गया है. ठीक गोरख पाण्डेय की कविता “स्वर्ग से  विदाई” की तरह.

रोहिणी एक नियोजित उपनगर है जिसे दिल्ली विकास प्राधिकरण ने बसाया है. एक शहरी बस्ती की जरूरतों के हिसाब से हर एक चीज़ का ध्यान रखा गया है. थोड़ी थोड़ी दूर पर “सार्वजनिक” पार्कों की व्यवस्था की गयी है और हर एक-दो किलोमीटर पर एक बड़े “सार्वजनिक” पार्क की भी व्यवस्था है जिसे डिस्ट्रिक्ट पार्क कहते हैं. Continue reading सार्वजनिक जगहों पर सामूहिक कब्ज़े की संस्कृति : किशोर →

Bad ideas

Modi’s ‘Singur’ : The Other Independence Day

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It was also an Independence Day celebration albeit of a different kind.

Far away from the 24 7 media and far away from the usual rhetoric one witnesses on any such date it was effectively people’s celebration which was resisted by the state at every level. Held at a non descript village called Dalod around 150 kilometers from Ahmedabad the state capital, it was attended by around 15,000 men and women, old and young, according to conservative estimates, .

There was unprecedented police patrolling and barricades on all roads leading to village Dalod and people coming to the flag hoisting were being stopped. One can easily guess that if the state would not have gone out of the way to thwart the programme, and had not cancelled the initial permission to hold it in Hansalpur, – where the Maruti Suzuki plant is supposed to come up – more than 50,000 people could have easily reached there. The celebration was attended by delegations from other groups waging a struggle against land acquisition in their areas, such as from Mahua (against the Nirma cement plant led by politician-activist Kanubhai Kalsaria), from Mithi Virdi in Bhavnagar (against the nuclear power project), the Junagadh by-pass road etc. who came there to show their solidarity. Continue reading Modi’s ‘Singur’ : The Other Independence Day →

Bad ideas

Where Are The Emile Zolas of Our Times !

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On Minority Rights and State Violence

Each one has his reasons: for one, art is a flight; for another, a means of conquering. But one can flee into a hermitage, into madness, into death. One can conquer by arms. Why does it have to be writing, why does one have to manage his escapes and conquests by writing? Because, behind the various aims of authors, there is a deeper and more immediate choice which is common to all of us.

What is Literature? Jean Paul Sartre

It is difficult to start when you are among an august gathering of masters and students of a subject you are not much aware of and are asked to say something to them. Today I find myself in that unenviable situation.

Let me admit here that when I received the information of the seminar I was really very excited to learn that scholars of literature would be focusing themselves on human rights, an issue which demands urgent attention from every thinking and concerned human being. But when the question of joining the debate arose, I was really in two minds. In fact, I was bit reluctant to come here for two simple reasons.

Firstly, being a left activist for larger part of my social life, I have been more accustomed to address public meetings on specific issues or share my ideas on a particular theme among activist circles. There have not been very many occasions when I had the opportunity to come to such gatherings. Continue reading Where Are The Emile Zolas of Our Times ! →

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Still No Justice for Khalid Mujahid : Country Be Not Proud !

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Lucknow, July 19: Frustrated with the continuation of Rihai Manch’s indefinite dharna demanding justice for Khalid Mujahid, the Uttar Pradesh government last night removed the tent at dharna site, forcing the protestors into the open sun. Today braving incessant rain, the rights activists continued their protest.

Rihai Manch started the dharna on 20th May, demanding arrest of the officers named accused by Mujahid’s family in the FIR and action on the recommendation of the RD Nimesh Commission. Mujahid was killed in police custody on 18th May. He was abducted by police in Dec. 2007 and later implicated in a terror case. The RD Nimesh Commission appointed by the previous state government of Mayawati declared Mujahid’s arrest as fake and illegal.

(http://muslimmirror.com/eng/up-govt-removes-tent-rihai-manch-continues-dharna-under-open-sky/)

 

Wily strategists meet their nemesis at relative strangers hands. This old dictum is getting once again vindicated in the supposed ‘heartland’ of India namely UP.

A dead Khalid Mujahid, who lies buried in his native village, is proving to be the undoing of the mighty Mulayam Singh Yadav ‘led’ government. It has been more than two months that Khalid Mujahid – who along with Tariq Qasmi was languishing in jail for more than five years, for a ‘crime’ he never committed, as proved by the state government appointed Nimesh commission itself – died a mysterious death in police custody, (18 th May 2013) but this issue is still hogging headlines in a section of the regional media. Continue reading Still No Justice for Khalid Mujahid : Country Be Not Proud ! →

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Pabnava to Natham: Whatever Happened to the Struggle for Annihilation of Caste!

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ImageDalit residents of Pabnava, district Kaithal, Haryana would never be able to forget this year’s birth anniversary of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. The intervening nights of April 13 and 14 would forever remain etched on their minds. They still shiver when they remember how a four hundred strong mob of the local landowning community called Ror Marathas, armed with spears, batons and other sharp edged weapons, attacked the basti and ransacked more than 200 houses and left 6 dalits injured. It was supposedly to avenge the ‘dishonour’ wrought on them by a dalit youth who had dared to marry one of ‘their girls’.

To quote Raji, one of the victims, ‘..they came like a tornado’.

One could easily notice simmering tension in the village since a few days, as news had come in that Meena (21) daughter of an influential Ror Maratha from the village called Pirthi Singh had married a dalit boy Suryakant s/o Mahendra Pal and had eloped with him. Continue reading Pabnava to Natham: Whatever Happened to the Struggle for Annihilation of Caste! →

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Lies, Damn Lies and NaMo – Why I do not support Modi and why you shouldn’t either: M Akhil

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ImageGuest Post by M AKHIL: Listen to the flourish. The stage is set, the side-kicks are in place and the sycophants are scampering tirelessly to welcome their emperor. Narendra Modi has started his journey to the high seat of Indraprastha.

Curiously enough, his current ride is being celebrated as a victory lap by his ardent supporters. A bit too quick, don’t you think? Especially for a man who was only a few years ago, in terrible danger of being convicted for one of the most gruesome state-sponsored genocides in the history of independent India. Of course, he hasn’t been convicted yet, but many of his ministers and close aides have been. Babu Bajrangi’s confessions on record must be more than enough proof for Modi’s culpability. 1 Alas! Facts get twisted in the most unimaginable ways as they threaten to blow away an edifice carefully built by a dominant plutocracy with immense help from the ‘State-Temple-Corporate Complex’. 2 Here, I shall attempt to bust the Modi bubble which is being ridiculously pumped up by the holy nexus, even as you are reading this. After all, the BJP is possibly the party with the highest following among Indian netizens and the online publicity team of the current supremo is meticulous. An alternative view will be stark, but hopefully it will serve as food for thought for those among us getting nauseated by the dominant narrative. Continue reading Lies, Damn Lies and NaMo – Why I do not support Modi and why you shouldn’t either: M Akhil →

Bad ideas

Bodhgaya Bomb Blasts : Moving Beyond the ‘Usual Suspects’

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I.

Encore!

Mr Praveen Swamy has ‘discovered’ the ‘usual suspects’ once again.

Narrating .'[t]he same old, depressing story of incompetence and apathy’ behind the Bodh Gaya bombings he has shared  with the readers how “[I]ndia’s police and intelligence services knew there were plots to attack the temple.” and how “.. jihadists quite publicly announced they intended to attack Buddhist targets. ..From January, government sources have told Firstpost, the Intelligence Bureau had issued several warnings pointing to heightened risks to Buddhist religious targets in India, as a consequence of anti-Muslim violence in Myanmar.” [FirstPost]

Of course, after giving enough hints about who the perpetrators could be, he has been careful enough to add – supposedly to maintain objectivity of his profession that: Continue reading Bodhgaya Bomb Blasts : Moving Beyond the ‘Usual Suspects’ →

Bad ideas

Hindustan Times continues IB’s campaign to vilify Ishrat Jahan: Justice for Ishrat Jahan Campaign

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On 2nd July, Hindustan Times Delhi edition carried a story with the headline “Ishrat Jahan has links with Kashmir Separatists”. The content of the story contradicted this sensational claim. Even more stunningly, the same story, sans this malicious headline, appeared in the Ahmedabad edition of the newspaper. Originally a story by the paper’s Ahmedabad correspondent, Mahesh Langa, Delhi-based correspondent Abhishek Saran added his byline and headline in the Delhi edition. It was clear what his contribution to the story was.

A letter by Shamima Kauser’s lawyer Vrinda Grover to Hindustan Times forced them to withdraw the headline and print a correction the following day. Continue reading Hindustan Times continues IB’s campaign to vilify Ishrat Jahan: Justice for Ishrat Jahan Campaign →

Bad ideas

Ishrat: Laltu’s poem

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Laltu‘s poem written in 2004; published in Dainik Bhaskar in 2005.

‘इशरत’
एक 

इशरत!
सुबह अँधेरे सड़क की नसों ने आग उगली
तू क्या कर रही थी पगली !
लाखों दिलों की धड़कन बनेगी तू
इतना प्यार तेरे लिए बरसेगा
प्यार की बाढ़ में डूबेगी तू
यह जान ही होगी चली!
सो जा
अब सो जा पगली. Continue reading Ishrat: Laltu’s poem →

Bad ideas

Media manipulation on Ishrat continues: Vrinda Grover’s Protest Letter to Hindustan Times

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To,
The Editor,
Hindustan Times

On the day the CBI is set to file its chargesheet in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, Hindustan Times has chosen to report about it in a manner that is malicious, prejudicial and intended to manipulate public opinion. The report, “ ‘Ishrat Jahan had links with Kashmir Separatists’: CBI” by Mahesh Langa and Abhishek Sharan in the Delhi/ Ahmedabad edition of the newspaper is nothing short of defamatory. The headline attributes this ‘information’ to the CBI whereas in the text of the report, it is said that two of those killed along with Ishrat “were associated with secessionist groups in Kashmir”. Clearly, the CBI is not saying that Ishrat had any links with any group. This is a deliberate misrepresentation and a cheap trick to make connections where none exist in order to tarnish the reputation of a deceased girl who is no longer present to defend herself.  Continue reading Media manipulation on Ishrat continues: Vrinda Grover’s Protest Letter to Hindustan Times →

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Can The Real Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Ever Stand Up?

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It has been more than two years that A G Noorani’s important book ‘Article 370 : A Constitutional History of J and K’ (OUP, 2011, Pages 480) has hit the stands and has been able to clear many a confusions about the tumultuous era in post independence times pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir.

Basing himself on authentic documents, letters, memorandums, white papers, proclamations and amendments  the author, a constitutional expert himself, has not only provided new insights about the period but has also tried to bring forth an important summary of the developments then and the role played by different stakeholders. While we have been witness to a process of erosion of the article 370 today, the book underscores the politics behind its erosion, which was negotiated between Prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah and had a stamp of approval from Sardar Patel and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee.

For the  Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which daily invokes name of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, founder of Bharatiya Jan Sangh – percursor to its present incarnation namely BJP – to oppose Article 370 which guarantees special status to Jammu and Kashmir – this exposure that the said Article had full approval from Mukherjee as well as then Home Minister Sardar Patel is nothing but blasphemous. Continue reading Can The Real Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Ever Stand Up? →