My reactions to the two articles on the President

My reactions to the articles on President Pratibha Patil
This month I received two articles on Pratibha Patil and her tenure as president. These were not only factual but revealed a sordid state of affairs .w.w.w..Sandeep web .com titled the article ‘Shame on you Madam. The fact is it should have been in the plural because there is more than one Madam involved for this state of affairs. The second article –on open letter addressed to the President (author name not given) contoured other dimensions of the President’s affairs. To me these two articles showed how low we have fallen and how hurt we Indians are to have a person in the name of Pratibha Patel thrust down our throats as a President. What have we done to be so shabbily treated? These two madams will go down in Indian history as having harmed and fleeced the nation more than the foreign invaders had
Does India-this great nation not deserve a better candidate as President than Partibha Devising Patel? Should all these postings from top to bottom be distributed by St Manio as though she brought these as part of her Italian dowry? We the people have a say and we have a democracy which Mrs Sonia Gandhi has thrown out, shredded and fabricated into an unrecognizable dynasty polity. With no governance but only a supreme power which she holds. It is a pity that the millions of Indians are tolerating this power centre- this abuse and misuse of power. After all, Mrs Sonia Gandhi is just the president of a political party (and we know how and why she became the President of the Congress party) and an MP. The fact that she occupies No 10 Janpath itself is a travesty of justice. She should be allotted an MP’s bungalow and nothing more. All the assets-the moveable and the immoveable assets belong to the people of India.So what claim has she to No 10 Janpath? It this unjust claim and unjust occupancy that is an exteriority of an unjust power centre. This enables her to distribute assets and positions at her whims and fancies. This must stop .This is a prelude to the present President’s occupancy and kind of life style. This is because of Mrs Sonia Gandhi and hence ‘shame on you madam must be first directed against her.
Never in India’s history had we such a person as Pratibha Patel a president who was least worthy of the chair. Her record of performance/rather non performance is there to testify. Yet she had no qualms to straight away hike her salary 300 times. This when she is fully aware of the discussion on fixing the Poverty line at 32 Rs per day. What justification is there when millions are below the PL for her to hike her salary300 times. Is the 22.3 crores not sufficient for her that she had to go in for a salary hike?.Is she sweating it out-What is her performance record? This mind you when the PL is at Rs 32.No single person with some sort of a conscience would give herself such a hefty salary hike.
We are morons watching all this and more. What rationale is there for her to go an a spending spree holidaying in resorts and in any fanciful place she wishes when people are slogging-sweating and yet find no solace to sit back and have a rest? Why had she to tax us a whopping 106 crores for her foreign trips? Is it not sinful? Why had she to race towards breaking the record of all the previous Presidents in this area? What did she achieve?
Why had she to occupy Rashtrapati Bhavan with her extended family? Why was it renovated at the cost of the tax payers’ money by a few crores. All this comes easily to her because she has no conscience. Yes I repeat she has no conscience. One with a conscience would think twice and would not misuse the Presidency and abuse it this way .It does not matter whether she was a good cook or not and it does not matter if she was the kitchen maid for Indira Gandhi.But if this is her only qualification then it matters. If her only credit score is that she was a faithful server of Mrs Sonia and the family then it must hurt us for being so grievously sinned against.
But all this again simmers down when one thinks of her callousness in grabbing the Defence land of 2,61,000 square feet allotted to build houses for the armed forces .One would think that she as the chief of the Armed forced would be delighted to at least perform this one single task and see that the poor jawans guarding her and the country would have decent houses .No she had to snatch that too because she was living by the pavements before she became the President and now after her presidency is over the poor woman has to go back to the pavements. Is that not an insult to the people of India hence she wanted a palatial bungalow with over 2 lakh square feet fortified for her use. After all no one would grudge her a modest bungalow but not this avarice in grabbing defense land at the cost of the jawans who have no say. Is this the way we treat them- reward them?
All this goes to show that Pratibha Patel was most ill suited to occupy the chair of the President. She was like a spoilt brat let loose in Disney land running hither and thither wanting to go down to bottom of the sea and fly high above in the most modern/sophisticated jet. She was using her power just to satiate her selfish, childish desires. Unmindful of the cost and unmindful of the sacred post she holds.
Did she pause one moment and realize that she has to reflect the India that she represents? This is an aspect of her personality that will reveal a most selfish-vested interest person. She as a woman did not have an iota of empathy to the millions of women of this country. She as woman did not feel the sensitivity of hunger-starvation, lack of basic needs, orphans and cripples that crowd our streets highways and byways. She did not have the least qualm to spent money on her vanity and grandeur at the cost of these dumb people-voiceless and powerless. This is the sinfulness of her person. It is a shame that we had her as a president. And the basic cause for this is Mrs Sonia Gandhi and hence I dare to say shame on her for treating the India citizens this way and shame on Pratibha Patil for misusing the position. This is a breach of trust-a travesty of justice and a betrayal of the nation-Will the two madams then not be called upon to account for these sins against the nation ?
Cry my beloved country.
Dr Mrs Hilda Raja,
Vadodara

My Easter Greetings

Easter is symbolic of New Life-New perception-fullness and wholeness of being and ultimately Liberation. This is what Easter is to me. It was hence with a happiness and joy that I understood Aung San Suu Kyi’s triumph. Her sweeping victory signals a new beginning. As she so well stated in the landslide victory of her party that it is people’s victory. This victory did not come easily for Aung San Suu Kyi.She had grit-she had determination and courage and above all she had hope. She sacrificed-her personal freedom-left her family and opted to stand by her people against all odds. She did this without much world support-This frail woman stood 20 years of hardships-was put under arrest and led a lonely life. But she stood by her principles. She wanted her people to be liberated-till that nothing would deter her.
Rightly the world acknowledged this woman’s courage and she was awarded the Nobel prize.The Nobel Peace Prize laureate adhered to non-violence against the military junta. She had just one desire-to restore democracy for her people.The underlying notion of democracy is people’s power being supreme. She had faith in that and hence nothing would hinder or deter her resolve. This is Easter-liberation from all that is oppressive-suppression and the human spirit triumphs above everything. Death is no obstacle because Easter defies death-death from sin, from human avarice, from human discrimination,from human inequality from human bondage and stands towards the upholding of all that is supremely divine. This divinity lies within every human person.
Aung San Suu Kyi thus stands as an icon for this liberation from death-liberation from sin and liberation of that which is encased within. The free spirit of the human cannot be kept in bondage-not for long. This is a lesson which Suu Kyi teaches us and that comes just a week prior to Easter when the Catholics all over the world will celebrate Easter. It is best understood not as an event of one man rising from the death-but it brings in symbolically what one Man did achieve-Truth cannot be crucified. It will rise again. That is today exemplified in Suu Kyi’s victory.It did not come easily. But it did ultimately come-through denial through suffering the tremendous ability to withstand suffering did sprout. It called for supreme sacrifice which she was prepared for. Nothing was too much for her people’s liberation and she won it.
Time and again in the world such Suu Kyis arise-they stand up for what they believe. Selfish vested interest-power mongers and power brokers need to heed this message that ultimately the Spirit of the Human cannot be enslaved. To Suu Kyi then my Easter salutations and I wish many more like her would arise-for within the frail body lies a steely resolve to fight till the end. There is a psalm which reads ‘Why did you do this to my people’-.I feel the same cry coming from within me looking at the Indian political class -the netas and the babus-why do you do this to my people? Why this all round corruption? Why this fleecing? Why this avarice? why this hoarding? why this sinfulness? Why this greed? Why this oppression? Why this deceit? Why this neglect? Why this vest interest?-whither are you going? Will not the reckoning Day come? Will not the Spirit that is lying encased with the poor resurrect and will not nemesis overtake you?
So here is a lesson from out neighboring country-Myannar- Do not belittle the power of the poor and the oppressed and do not think that you can escape the punishment of crime and scams. The Oppressed will rise and from their midst will rise Suu Kyis to lead the people to liberation-freedom and true democracy. May that Day dawn soon and may Easter become true to the millions of my people who are in starvation, ill health and disease. May they see the end of their sufferings and may their spirits triumph….
Dr Mrs Hilda Raja,
Vadodara
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