Bihar’s Modi unveils Lalu Leela
Are RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and members of his family among the richest land holders in the country? Yes, if you are ready to believe Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.
Sushil Modi, who has made this startling claim in his new 198-page book Lalu Leela, told The Sunday Guardian that the Lalu family had “illegally” amassed properties to become the owner of “141 land plots, 30 flats and half-a-dozen houses” in Bihar and other states.
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad released the book, which is a compilation of facts mentioned by the Registrar of Companies about the 10 “sham” companies with which Lalu’s sons and daughters were associated. This is Sushil Modi’s second book. His first book, Beech Samar Mein (In the Middle of War), was released two years ago and centred on his imprisonment during the Emergency.
Sushil Modi says that Lalu started his journey from a chaprasi (peon) quarters and went on to get convicted in four cases of the Rs 1,000-crore fodder scam. Lalu is currently admitted to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in Ranchi under police custody.
Sushil Modi wants to know, “How come Lalu’s 29-year-old son Tejashwi Yadav has become the owner of over 20 properties? The family had no ancestral land. Tejashwi remained unsuccessful in cricket. Another son Tej Pratap (a former minister) also owns 28 properties and daughter Misha Bharti, 23 properties. Lalu’s wife and former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi also owns 43 plots and over 30 flats.”
RJD national vice-president Shivanand Tewary, however, laughs and says, “Why did Bihar’s Chhota Modi have to write a book to tell the gist of his 40-odd press conferences. The BJP leadership is afraid of Lalu Prasad’s huge political status in Bihar and that is why it leaves no opportunity to discredit him.”
Top UPA minister had grabbed a woman TV reporter
While pressure mounted on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to remove Union Minister of State for External Affairs and former editor M.J. Akbar from the Council of Ministers, not many are aware of an incident involving a top minister during the UPA regime. He was lucky as the #MeToo movement had not started then.
It happened on the night of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. When the commercial capital of the country was burning, a young woman reporter of a major television channel reached the minister’s official residence in the Lutyens Bungalow Zone to interview him. A large crowd of TV crews and print journalists was already there. When she announced her TV channel’s name, a personal staff member of the Minister immediately ushered her inside the residence to the surprise of other journalists. Her camera team was, however, not allowed entry. She was taken to the ante room and told that the “Saheb” would be there shortly. Excited, she sent an SMS to her boss that she was soon getting the Minister’s sound-bite. The TV channel’s main studio was put on alert, hoping that the Minister might give exclusive information for “breaking news” that “the nation wants to know”.
As the journalist in her mid-30s was interacting with her studio, she suddenly jumped as someone grabbed her from behind. She turned and saw that it was the Minister. “What are you doing?” she shouted. The Minister also shouted back, “Who are you? What are you doing here? Get out?”
Trembling, the poor girl walked out. It was clear that the Minister was “expecting” some other woman journalist. Seeing her coming out so fast, other journalists noticed her being upset and inquired what had happened.
Angry, she went to a corner and tweeted the entire incident that had shaken her to the core. Within 15 minutes, her boss, who, at the time was in London, was talking to her, asking her to delete her tweet. She refused.
By now alarmed over her tweet, the Minister had obviously spoken to her bossy boss. The Minister also reportedly telephoned the owners of the TV channel, run by a major newspaper group. After an hour, the woman journalist, under tremendous pressure from her boss and the owners, deleted her tweet.
Later, the Minister wanted the TV channel to “sack” her. It was not done as it was feared that she might go public. But she went “off screen”—she was rarely given any assignment till the UPA-II stepped out of power. She told this columnist about the shocking incident later.
Her achhe din returned when her boss left the TV channel to head a new one. Interestingly, she swung into action as the Modi government agencies began investigating (so far without much result) corruption charges against the Minister and his family members.
Indian Diaspora In Gulf Upset With Air India
Air India has been dragged to the Delhi High Court as it has withdrawn the 50% discount and often free carriage (in case of poor families) on the transportation of mortals that the airline provided to Indians dying in the UAE. A lawyer, Jose Abraham, has filed a public interest litigation in this regard on behalf of an NGO, Pravasi (Overseas) Legal Cell.
It all started when the AI, on 19 September, put an end to the 50% reduction in fares that it was providing for the carriage of bodies of Indians who died in the UAE. The airline also put an end to the free transportation of bodies for the distressed and low-income Indian families living in the Emirates. Air India said that it was only following the air cargo tariff (TACT), with the standard rate specified by the International Air Transport Association. Air India had been following TACT rates everywhere except the UAE. Now, with financial pressures, Air India bosses took the decision to levy charges as per TACT rates.
Air India’s decision does not seem to have gone down well with the Indian Diaspora in the Gulf. The Indian Ambassador to the UAE, Navdeep Singh Suri, has been quoted by a Gulf daily saying that the embassy would help the destitute and be ready “to take on a larger responsibility and fill the void left by Air India. It would also assist where the sponsor, employer or insurance company fail to bear the expenditure.”
Advocate Jose Abraham told The Sunday Guardian that the decision to hike fares had affected the fundamental rights of immigrants working abroad. He points out that low-cost carrier IndiGo carried bodies of residents of the Northeast who die in Delhi free of charge. A few countries, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc., have provisions to carry the mortal remains of their citizens back to the country free of cost.
“Ferrying mortal remains by air has always remained a costly affair, especially for underprivileged migrant workers living far away from their home town,” says the PIL. The Delhi High Court has asked the government to respond and point out the policy of several airlines, including Air India, to alleged charge of “exorbitant” rates.
Prof Bejon Misra, Founder, Consumer Online Foundation, says that “Air India should continue with the subsidy and the government should support the cost for free transportation of the mortal remains for families who cannot afford to pay.”
According to a Parliamentary report, 7,694 bodies of Indians were stranded in foreign countries in 2015: 2,690 bodies were in Saudi Arabia and 1,540 in the United Arab Emirates.
Pak wild boars creating trouble at Punjab border
Pakistani wild boars have started troubling Indian farmers on Punjab’s international border. These boars have been playing havoc with the standing paddy crop across the barbed wire fencing in Fazilka district.
A deputation of farmers from the border villages of Teja Rohela, Mohar Jamsher, Mohar Sona, Mansa, Mohar Khiva and Mauzam recently met the Border Security Force officers for help. “We are not allowed to go across the fencing from dusk to dawn,” Dalip Singh of Mohar Khiva village, whose land is located across the barbed wire fencing, told The Sunday Guardian. “Our crops are left unattended. Herds of Pakistani wild boars are entering Indian territory and destroying the paddy crop.” It is not clear whether Pakistani Rangers are pushing these boars towards Indian crops.
Former sarpanch Mohinder Singh says that “the paddy crop is ready for harvest so the farmers are worried as wild boards damage the crops”. Farmers are demanding adequate compensation on account of the damage to crops.
Farmers are not allowed to sow tall crops across the fencing owing to security reasons. Some farmers used to put up the cobra wire around their agricultural plots but due to security reasons, this practice was discontinued. In the 1990s, a 533-km-long fencing was erected along the India-Pakistan border about 150 metres inside Indian territory with the aim to prevent infiltration and smuggling of arms and narcotics from the Pakistan side, as a result of which 54,721 acres of agricultural land came to be located across the fencing in Punjab. The Pakistani side of the border along Fazilka district is a habitat of wild boars.
‘Google’s search engine for China curbs liberty’
A few days ago, Google held its annual product launch event. On this occasion, they proclaimed: “delivering information is why we exist”. “But this isn’t entirely true, Google is working on a major project that would limit access to information for more than one billion people,” says Dorjee Tseten, Executive Director, Students for a Free Tibet. “Recent leaked documents revealed that Google is building a censored search engine platform for China,” Tseten told The Sunday Guardian.
“Under this project, codenamed Dragonfly, a version of Google’s search engine in China will censor websites and search terms about human rights, democracy, freedom, religion, and protest,” warns Tseten.
Man Mohan can be contacted at rovingeditor@gmail.com