Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Muslim organisations cancel gatherings due to political pressure - By Zeeshan Shaikh - THE FREE PRESS JOURNAL, MUMBAI, INDIA
A Senior Journalist, Kuldeep Nayar quotes his sources to write in his widely published weekly column that the August 11, 2012 Azad Maidan rampage was an organised mayhem by the Congress. Bal Thakerey too declared that Orissa riots organised by Congress has the same modes operandi as Azad Maidan rampage. If there is some truth to these political analysis, it would seem that all Congress wanted was to force Mumbai's Muslims to refrain from any mass political movement that could challenge the status quo. Its recent pressure on Muslims would be part of the same tactic to control Muslim political consolidation in Mumbai.
All 50 innocent Muslim boys arrested by Mumbai police and subjected to criminal torture in the jails and lock up should be immediately released by Maharashtra's Congress/NCP coalition and they should all be compensated for their unlawful detention and torture.
Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai
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http://epaper.fpj.co.in/
All 50 innocent Muslim boys arrested by Mumbai police and subjected to criminal torture in the jails and lock up should be immediately released by Maharashtra's Congress/NCP coalition and they should all be compensated for their unlawful detention and torture.
Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai
-------------------
http://epaper.fpj.co.in/
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Wednesday, September 12, 2012
A fairer share - By A. K. Verma - THE INDIAN EXPRESS, MUMBAI, INDIA
Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai
<ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com>------------------------------
http://www.indianexpress.com/
A fairer share
A.K. Verma : Wed Sep 12 2012, 02:38 hrsWhen Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party took over the reins of government in Uttar Pradesh, it boasted of heavy Muslim support, discomfiting the outgoing BSP. Sixty nine Muslims from various parties were elected to the UP assembly. Yet, questions have often been raised about the inadequacy of Muslim representation in UP politics.
However, recent municipal elections for 630 nagar nigams, nagar palika parishads and nagar panchayats in UP, held over June and July, demolish this perception. Not only have Muslims been well represented in all municipal bodies, their presence is proportionately greater than their share in the state’s population, which is 18.5 per cent.
In fact, the proportion of Muslim MLAs and MPs in UP has always exceeded their share in the population. Some suggest that they have been used as votebanks by parties that espouse the “Muslim cause”. However, the political empowerment of Muslims in urban and semi-urban areas, evident in the 2012 municipal elections, punctures this votebank theory.
The State Election Commission does not provide any data on the basis of religion, but it has put the names of all the 12,000-odd elected representatives of 630 civic bodies on its website. Scanning the lists, one finds that out of 11,816 seats, Muslims have won 3,681, that is, 31.15 per cent of the seats. This is a striking jump, compared to the 17.12 per cent share of Muslims in the UP assembly elections in 2012 and the 8.75 per cent share in the parliamentary elections of 2009.
This increased representation of Muslims is not confined to any one region of UP. Rohilkhand, with a 34 per cent Muslim population, tops the list with 53.5 per cent Muslim representation in various municipal bodies. This is followed by Awadh, west UP, east UP and east UP (north). Even in Bundelkhand with 6.69 per cent, and the Doab with 11.2 per cent Muslim populations, the Muslim share in civic bodies is higher, at 8.87 per cent and 15.62 per cent respectively. If we look at specific civic bodies, the trend is mirrored — there there are 88 per cent Muslim members in Mubarakpur (Azamgarh) and Kakrala (Badayun) nagar palika parishads, and 93 per cent Muslim members in Kheri (Lakhimpur) and Kithor (Meerut) nagar panchayats. These four places represent different regions — east UP, Rohilkhand, Awadh and west UP, respectively. This holds true of other sub-regions too.
One explanation for this expanded Muslim representation is that in urban and semi-urban areas, Muslims tend to cluster around a few pockets. But how did this grassroots upsurge of Muslim representation happen without parties like the SP and the BSP, which have vigorously championed the Muslim cause, but which did not participate in these polls? Is this an indication of the Muslim community’s growing autonomy vis-à-vis political parties? The SP contingent in the Lok Sabha did not contain a single Muslim MP in 2009, despite massive Muslim support for the party. Some Muslim parties, such as the Peace Party and the Qaumi Ekta Dal, have tried to take advantage of this fact and fared well in some pockets of east UP and the Terai belt, but they have yet to become real players in state politics. And yet, it is clear that Muslims are now confidently taking to political contests without the aid of political parties.
Why is this increased Muslim representation in civic government not being replicated in assembly and parliamentary elections? Most assembly and parliamentary constituencies have a mix of rural and urban areas, and Muslim localities in rural areas may not be populated densely enough to give Muslim contestants an edge on the basis of community support. They have to reach out to the entire electorate, in which political parties play a crucial role.
The rising number and growing clout of Muslims in urban government have the potential to genuinely improve their lives. This grassroots empowerment will achieve more than anything the Akhilesh Yadav government promises about acting on the Ranganath Mishra commission and the Sachar committee’s recommendations. Now, we must watch how these Muslim-dominant civic bodies function.
The writer teaches politics at Christ Church College, Kanpur, express@expressindia.com
Sunday, September 9, 2012
New Nazrul book questions Mamata ‘secularism’ - By Subrata Nagchoudhury - THE INDIAN EXPRESS - MUMBAI
" Moving on to Brahmins, he says that while they constitute only
about 2 per cent of the population, Mamata’s Cabinet has as many as 15
Brahmin ministers. Besides, almost 80 per cent of all departments in the
government are headed by Brahmins and high-caste Hindus.
Mamata, herself a Brahmin, holds at least 10 most important
departments, Islam notes. Brahmins and Kayasthas also occupy the post of
state Director General of Police, state home secretary and state chief
secretary."
http://www.indianexpress.com/
New Nazrul book questions Mamata ‘secularism’
Subrata Nagchoudhury : Kolkata, Sun Sep 09 2012, 01:20 hrs
Already facing Mamata Banerjee government’s wrath over a book on its wooing of Muslims, Nazrul Islam is ready with another.
The controversial IPS officer’s 73rd publication, to hit the
market soon, indirectly questions among other things the secular
credentials of the Chief Minister, in terms of her Cabinet, government
and politics. The book, in English, is titled How Secular is Indian
Politics.
Following the release of his last publication, Musalmander Ki
Karaniya (What the Muslims Should Do), in Bengali, officials had dropped
in at the office of Mitra & Ghosh Publishers Private Ltd seeking to
buy all the copies of the first print. They had also allegedly urged
that the book be withheld, leading the publishers to approach the West
Bengal State Human Rights Commission.
In How Secular is Indian Politics, Islam discusses caste
(“varna”) and community (“jati”) factors and portrays that in the Mamata
cabinet, her distribution of portfolios as well as in posting of top
officers, the higher castes have been given preference.
While the Additional Director General of Police, Training,
refused to comment, except acknowledging that he was coming up with a
new book, the publisher, who refused to be identified, said it was
almost ready for print.
Islam had earlier earned the wrath of the previous Left Front
government for his anti-government writings. When Mamata became railway
minister under the UPA II government, she had invited him to join as
executive director, safety, Railway Board. In 2011, after she came to
power in West Bengal, she had the IPS officer brought back to the state.
However, relations between the two have since soured and Trinamool
leaders claim Islam took up the pen against Mamata when he was denied a
posting of his choice.
Out of 37 Trinamool Congress ministers in Mamata’s Cabinet, only
one is a Bengali Muslim, while eight of the Muslims are Urdu speaking,
Islam writes. This is not proportional to the demographic profile of
Bengal, he says, as the lower-caste Bengali Muslims constitute at least
28 per cent of the state’s Muslim population as per the 2011 census. The
Urdu-speaking Muslims, also known as Bihari Muslims, are much lesser.
According to Islam, this shows the Trinamool’s bias for those who have
more clout.
Moving on to Brahmins, he says that while they constitute only
about 2 per cent of the population, Mamata’s Cabinet has as many as 15
Brahmin ministers. Besides, almost 80 per cent of all departments in the
government are headed by Brahmins and high-caste Hindus.
Mamata, herself a Brahmin, holds at least 10 most important
departments, Islam notes. Brahmins and Kayasthas also occupy the post of
state Director General of Police, state home secretary and state chief
secretary.
Islam further talks about the only Bengali Muslim, Nure Alam
Chodhury, holding the relatively insignificant portfolio of animal
husbandry despite being a former Calcutta High Court judge and
distinguished lawyer. The Urdu-speaking Muslims, on the other hand, hold
portfolios like urban development, municipal affairs, education, fire
and disaster management etc.
Islam also cites posts such as Speaker of the Assembly (a
Brahmin), deputy speaker (a Kayastha), leader of the Trinamool Congress
Legislature Party (a Brahmin), chief whip of the Treasury Bench (a
Brahmin) and Kolkata Mayor (a Brahmin) to underline the upper-caste
“bias”.
In another reference to “non-secular politics”, the IPS officer
talks of Mamata’s dalliance with the BJP-led NDA. No one can tell for
sure that she will not go back to the BJP again, he writes.
In his “analysis” of how political parties exploit caste and
community equations, Islam also talks about other parts of the country,
including how the southern states have seen “reverse discrimination”,
with lower castes calling the shots.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
The XI that won the Gujarat Test - By SA Aiyar - THE SUNDAY TIMES OF INDIA
Much that most
readers will appreciate Swaminathan Aiyar's recount of Gujarat's sordid
drama of 'crime and punishment' as blood sport, comparing it with the
win and lose score board of India's favourite sport -Cricket; he has in
fact trivialized the entire gamut of inhuman brutality and human
sufferings in Gujarat. That unfortunately exposes the insensitivity of
some elite section of the society, that treat all such tragic events as
as par for the course. In a way, that eases the pain of the sufferers
and keeps them from going overboard in a temporary burst of
triumphalism; while assuring the criminals that this is only how law
sometimes takes it course and therefore they should be prepared to play
the next game of India's favorite blood sport: genocidal attacks on
Muslims and be prepared for the change in the role of the referees.
Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai
<ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com>
------------------------------
http://blogs.timesofindia.
09 September 2012, 04:57 AM IST
There was much cheering last week when our cricket Test team
demolished New Zealand . Yet the truly great Test and victory was in the
Gujarat High Court, which imposed stiff sentences on perpetrators of
the Naroda Patiya massacre of 2002.
India’s institutions and civil society defeated a state bent on protecting the guilty. This required the combined efforts of thousands of people. From these thousands, i would pick the following first eleven.
Captain of the team was Justice JS Verma. After the post-Godhra massacre of Muslims, the Gujarat government tried to let the killers off the hook. Justice Verma as head of the National Human Rights Commission raised serious doubts about the impartiality of the state government and asked the Supreme Court to intervene. He persuaded the Supreme Court to stay proceedings in the lower courts based on flimsy investigations.
He was followed in the batting line up by Justice Arijit Pasayat of the Supreme Court, who decreed in 2008 that the Gujarat cases could not be left to the state government to investigate and prosecute. Instead he appointed a Special Investigative Team (SIT) with sweeping powers to find the truth and nail the guilty.
B K Raghavan headed the Special Investigative Team and collected evidence that led to convictions in Naroda Patiya and other cases. Activists criticized Raghavan for exonerating Modi: he concluded there was no evidence against the chief minister. Still, Raghavan was a star player of the team.
Within Gujarat, the charge was led by lawyer Mukul Sinha . His Jan Sangharsh Manch was determined to collect evidence and establish the truth. It got Ahmedabad’s mobile phone call data from an upright police officer, analysed the call logs, and proved that top BJP ideologues such as Maya Kodnani and Babu Bajrangi were at Naroda Patiya on the fateful day. This enabled the SIT to home in on Kodnani and others who had not even been named in earlier investigations .
The lead lawyer for Naroda Patiya’s victims, Govind Parmar , saw the massacre as state-abetted genocide. As a dalit himself, he knew full well the enormities of injustice arising from communal hate. He defended and ensured acquittal of Muslims falsely accused of murder, protected threatened witnesses, and finally won the Naroda Patiya case.
Lawyer Yusuf Muchhala spearheaded the movement to restore 512 shrines destroyed in the riots, mostly mosques and dargahs. The state government claimed that India’s secular principles prohibited it from aiding any community to rebuild shrines. However, Muchhala persuaded the courts to order the state government to restore the destroyed shrines.
The traditional Gujarat elite feared taking on Narendra Modi after his sweeping electoral victory in 2002. The great exception was Mallika Sarabhai, the famous dancer. Even the Congress Party opted for a soft Hindutva line rather than take on Modi. But, despite huge peer pressure, Mallika never minced words in condemning what she saw as Modi’s politics of hate and death.
Teesta Setalvad, a Mumbai-based activist and TV analyst, became one of the best known civil society faces in Gujarat. In the Best Bakery case, in which 14 Muslims were killed, the state government originally contrived a weak prosecution that led to the acquittal of all the accused. But Teesta persuaded higher courts to order a retrial, which resulted in life sentences for four killers. Teesta emerged a heroine, but her image was somewhat tarnished when the SIT as well a former aide accused her of concocting false stories and coaching witnesses to make false statements.
Harsh Mander, an officer of the Indian Administrative service, relocated to Gujarat to secure justice and relief for those hit by the 2002 riots. He set up Nyayagrah, meaning campaign for justice. With the help of lawyers like Indira Jaisingh, he helped re-open hundreds of cases that the police had conveniently closed down.
J S Bandukwala, a Muslim professor at Baroda University , was a major force for moderation and peace. He was almost killed by Hindu rioters. Yet he pleaded for harmony, not vengeance . Eight years after the riots, he suggested it might be wise for Muslims to put the terrible past behind and focus on a better future. Some praised his moderation, but others castigated him as too soft on Modi.
Last but not least in the batting order came Justice Jyotsna Yagnik. She presided over the Naroda Patiya trial, and convicted and sentenced Maya Kodnani and others. In the process, she exposed the way the police favoured Kodnani until the SIT took over.
This was a great first eleven. But it succeeded only because of support from thousands of others. Let us raise a glass to all who made the victory possible.
Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai
<ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com>
------------------------------
http://blogs.timesofindia.
The XI that won the Gujarat Test
SA Aiyar09 September 2012, 04:57 AM IST
India’s institutions and civil society defeated a state bent on protecting the guilty. This required the combined efforts of thousands of people. From these thousands, i would pick the following first eleven.
Captain of the team was Justice JS Verma. After the post-Godhra massacre of Muslims, the Gujarat government tried to let the killers off the hook. Justice Verma as head of the National Human Rights Commission raised serious doubts about the impartiality of the state government and asked the Supreme Court to intervene. He persuaded the Supreme Court to stay proceedings in the lower courts based on flimsy investigations.
He was followed in the batting line up by Justice Arijit Pasayat of the Supreme Court, who decreed in 2008 that the Gujarat cases could not be left to the state government to investigate and prosecute. Instead he appointed a Special Investigative Team (SIT) with sweeping powers to find the truth and nail the guilty.
B K Raghavan headed the Special Investigative Team and collected evidence that led to convictions in Naroda Patiya and other cases. Activists criticized Raghavan for exonerating Modi: he concluded there was no evidence against the chief minister. Still, Raghavan was a star player of the team.
Within Gujarat, the charge was led by lawyer Mukul Sinha . His Jan Sangharsh Manch was determined to collect evidence and establish the truth. It got Ahmedabad’s mobile phone call data from an upright police officer, analysed the call logs, and proved that top BJP ideologues such as Maya Kodnani and Babu Bajrangi were at Naroda Patiya on the fateful day. This enabled the SIT to home in on Kodnani and others who had not even been named in earlier investigations .
The lead lawyer for Naroda Patiya’s victims, Govind Parmar , saw the massacre as state-abetted genocide. As a dalit himself, he knew full well the enormities of injustice arising from communal hate. He defended and ensured acquittal of Muslims falsely accused of murder, protected threatened witnesses, and finally won the Naroda Patiya case.
Lawyer Yusuf Muchhala spearheaded the movement to restore 512 shrines destroyed in the riots, mostly mosques and dargahs. The state government claimed that India’s secular principles prohibited it from aiding any community to rebuild shrines. However, Muchhala persuaded the courts to order the state government to restore the destroyed shrines.
The traditional Gujarat elite feared taking on Narendra Modi after his sweeping electoral victory in 2002. The great exception was Mallika Sarabhai, the famous dancer. Even the Congress Party opted for a soft Hindutva line rather than take on Modi. But, despite huge peer pressure, Mallika never minced words in condemning what she saw as Modi’s politics of hate and death.
Teesta Setalvad, a Mumbai-based activist and TV analyst, became one of the best known civil society faces in Gujarat. In the Best Bakery case, in which 14 Muslims were killed, the state government originally contrived a weak prosecution that led to the acquittal of all the accused. But Teesta persuaded higher courts to order a retrial, which resulted in life sentences for four killers. Teesta emerged a heroine, but her image was somewhat tarnished when the SIT as well a former aide accused her of concocting false stories and coaching witnesses to make false statements.
Harsh Mander, an officer of the Indian Administrative service, relocated to Gujarat to secure justice and relief for those hit by the 2002 riots. He set up Nyayagrah, meaning campaign for justice. With the help of lawyers like Indira Jaisingh, he helped re-open hundreds of cases that the police had conveniently closed down.
J S Bandukwala, a Muslim professor at Baroda University , was a major force for moderation and peace. He was almost killed by Hindu rioters. Yet he pleaded for harmony, not vengeance . Eight years after the riots, he suggested it might be wise for Muslims to put the terrible past behind and focus on a better future. Some praised his moderation, but others castigated him as too soft on Modi.
Last but not least in the batting order came Justice Jyotsna Yagnik. She presided over the Naroda Patiya trial, and convicted and sentenced Maya Kodnani and others. In the process, she exposed the way the police favoured Kodnani until the SIT took over.
This was a great first eleven. But it succeeded only because of support from thousands of others. Let us raise a glass to all who made the victory possible.
:
Sort by: Newest | Oldest | Recommended (2) | Agree (2)
Sort by: Newest | Oldest | Recommended (2) | Agree (2)
Dilip Rathod
(Houston)
says:
September 09,2012 at 09:58 AM IST
19 Followers
Silver : 4453
4
3
1
The perfect eleven has done justice. The guilty have
met and will meet their end, after all as you sow so you reap. Prof.
Bandukwala is a progressive minded intellectual who advises the Muslims
to erode the past and write afresh. Consequently the Muslims in Gujarat
have prospered and helped in establishing peace. In spite of such social
amity efforts some pseudo secular prop up their heads for political
gains and dig godhra and Post Godhra ghosts. Let justice take its course
and let's drive the nation ahead.
Brown American
(USA)
says:
September 09,2012 at 09:56 AM IST
52 Followers
Gold : 13263
5
5
2
I disagree with the article. Sentences are not
strong enough. It is not enough deterrent for future perpetrators of
such crimes. Look how much politically did Modi gain from the state
orchestrated genocide of Muslims. He won Elections twice. Not all
actors, perpetrators, instigators have been brought to Justice. Unless
Modi stands trial, this issue will not come a closure.;
Sunil Kokrady
(India)
says:
September 09,2012 at 09:01 AM IST
17 Followers
Silver : 3046
4
3
1
Where was this Victorious Team when Congress were
systematically massacring almost three times Gujarat 2002? What about
justice for Sikhs? Are they not human? The king pin of 1984 riots was
give "Clean Chit" by same members of victorious team. No wonder he is
now found doing same antics in Oddisha. The verdict may be victory for
Testa Setalavad and few but justice is still far off the mark.
Subhash (Delhi.)
says:
September 09,2012 at 08:49 AM IST
Why Mr. Swaminathan not writing anything about the
other side of the XI that started the Gujarat Test? It has become the
practice of the journalists like Mr. Swaminathan SA Aiyar to highlight
what has been done to provide justice to riot victims of post Godhra
riots. But is there any Justice JS Verma, Mr. Justice Arijit Pasayat,
Mukul Sinha, Govind Parmar, Yusuf Muchhala, Mallika Sarabhai, Teesta
Setalvad, Harsh Mander, JS Bandukwala etc. who tried to tell the stories
to the masses how the a few misguided persons from a particular
community at Godhra put the train on fire at Godhra Station. Everyone
knows there is no one to tell their stories how they burnt the 58
passengers alive? Because those who hatched the conspiracy to roast the
58 passengers were not Muslims. Had the burnt passengers been Muslims
the nation would have been told about how these were burnt alive? The
question is why our journalists like Mr. Aiyar or social activists
silent over the misdeeds of the persons who put the train on fire? Do
they know anything about their stories? Why are their stories not being
told? Those who put the train on fire are perhaps the true culprits of
Muslims who suffered after the unfortunate post Godhra riots? Had
there been no burning of trains perhaps gujarat would have been the most
peaceful and prosperous State in India
Walmart is unwelcome in the US China Town
Walmart is unwelcome in the US China Town
While under pressure from Jewish investors, US President Obama publically remonstrated Manmohan Singh and his government for failing to 'reform' --- meaning give entry to American's biggest Jewish retail chain, the Walmart, in Indian market, --- even though its entry will result in throwing out of business for millions of corner shopowners and the existing supply chains --- the following news story by New York Times shows how Walmart is not welcome in areas where mom and pop shopkeepers of China Town in Los Angeles, California. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should take a leaf from the protests in America and reconsider its US FIRST policy, instead of INDIA FIRST. The danger of another public agitation against Walmart and Congress, is not to be underestimated and if Congress wants to remain the running, it should think of the common people of India, rather than the moneybag Jewish investors of the world, who are descending on India in droves, to take over India, in the name of USA.
Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai
<ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com>
--------------------------
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/
For more than 70 years, small businesses have thrived in Chinatown. Now Walmart’s plans for a store — in an area that hasn’t had a mainstream grocery in decades — have spurred a furious battle, with community activists and labor unions determined to block the giant retailer.
For more than 70 years, these small businesses have thrived here, lining both sides of the street.
But some local residents and business owners fear this historic immigrant community is now threatened by the newest addition to the neighborhood: Walmart, which plans to open a scaled-down version of its superstore just a few blocks from the heart of Chinatown.
“They’re going to hurt the small businesses,” said Grace Yen, a Taiwanese immigrant who came here in 1986, as she sat in a Chinatown bakery. “They have a bigger market. They’re going to take over everything.”
The Walmart Neighborhood Market would offer Chinatown its first mainstream grocery store in decades. But since the company’s plan was announced in February, a furious battle has broken out over the project, with community activists and labor unions determined to block the world’s largest retailer from the neighborhood.
In March, the City Council banned large chain stores from opening in Chinatown. But Walmart received its building permit a day before that vote, exempting the store from the ban.
Then in June, thousands of protesters marched through Chinatown in a show of opposition to the new Walmart. Several labor unions have also sued to stop the project.
But on Friday a judge declined to halt construction on the store, which began in July, until that case is heard. As a result, the Chinatown Walmart now looks more likely than ever to open as scheduled early next year.
Christilily Chiv, 24, said she worries that Walmart’s arrival in the neighborhood where she was born and raised could mark the start of a major transition in Chinatown, which remains a first stop for many Asian immigrants, into a historic district where immigrants no longer live and work.
“Chinatown is a cultural community,” Ms. Chiv said. “I want to preserve what is there. And I fear what’s going to happen is that by having commercial corporations come in, they are going to erase the cultural community and what it stood for in the first place.”
Still, the storefront where the Walmart Neighborhood Market plans to open has sat vacant for two decades, and many residents are eager to see it filled.
“This community has not had a mainstream grocery store in 74 years,” said George Yu, executive director of the Chinatown Business Improvement District, noting that all grocery stores in the area close by 7 p.m. “What if you want yogurt or cheese? What if you want dog food? Those are pretty basic needs that every community has.”
“Ninety-nine percent of the community supports this market,” Mr. Yu added. “The opposition is coming from outside Chinatown.”
Labor unions have for years criticized Walmart for hiring nonunion workers and paying low wages. And some of the unions and workers’ rights advocates that have helped lead the charge to keep Walmart out of Chinatown also fought to limit Walmart’s influence in other parts of the region.
This year, three of the top candidates in the 2013 Los Angeles mayoral race all vowed not to accept any campaign donations from Walmart, after unions sent a letter urging them to return contributions from the retail giant.
In addition, the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, which helped organize the protest in Chinatown, also helped push through an ordinance that makes it more difficult to open large superstores here.
“We’ve been organizing to try to make sure that neighborhood small businesses are protected,” said Allison Mannos, a spokeswoman for the alliance. “And also to make sure that there are not poverty-level jobs coming in.”
The Walmart Neighborhood Market planned for Chinatown would offer mainly grocery items and a pharmacy. Steven V. Restivo, a spokesman for Walmart, said the company had received largely positive feedback from the community.
“The day our store opens, thousands and thousands of local residents are going to shop at that Walmart Neighborhood Market,” Mr. Restivo said. “Those are people who probably never attended a council meeting or wrote a letter to the editor. They just want to have more options close to where they live and work.”
He added, “In terms of the cultural impact, there is literally a Burger King across the street from our location, and a Subway next door.”
Local residents remained evenly divided, according to a spokeswoman for City Councilman Ed P. Reyes, who represents the area. And even some of the local business owners are not yet sure how Walmart might affect them.
Richard Lam owns an import business, selling clothes and other accessories. He showed off a Walmart app on his smartphone. But he was nervous about the arrival of the store.
“I shop online with Walmart all the time,” he said. “I buy phone. I buy camera. It’s cheap.”
But he added, “If they don’t open, I’m happier.”
While under pressure from Jewish investors, US President Obama publically remonstrated Manmohan Singh and his government for failing to 'reform' --- meaning give entry to American's biggest Jewish retail chain, the Walmart, in Indian market, --- even though its entry will result in throwing out of business for millions of corner shopowners and the existing supply chains --- the following news story by New York Times shows how Walmart is not welcome in areas where mom and pop shopkeepers of China Town in Los Angeles, California. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should take a leaf from the protests in America and reconsider its US FIRST policy, instead of INDIA FIRST. The danger of another public agitation against Walmart and Congress, is not to be underestimated and if Congress wants to remain the running, it should think of the common people of India, rather than the moneybag Jewish investors of the world, who are descending on India in droves, to take over India, in the name of USA.
Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai
<ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com>
--------------------------
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/
A Walmart for Chinatown Stirs a Fight in Los Angeles
Patrick T. Fallon for The New York Times
For more than 70 years, small businesses have thrived in Chinatown. Now Walmart’s plans for a store — in an area that hasn’t had a mainstream grocery in decades — have spurred a furious battle, with community activists and labor unions determined to block the giant retailer.
By IAN LOVETT
Published: September 7, 2012
LOS ANGELES — Along Broadway here, in the heart of Chinatown, immigrants crowd around fruit and vegetable shops, asking prices in Mandarin and Cantonese. Men hawk huge red grapes from a pile in the back of a pickup truck. And poultry shops sell not only chicken, but roosters, guinea hens and pheasants — live poultry is available on request.
Patrick T. Fallon for The New York Times
A sign protesting Wal-Mart hangs on the door of a small pet store in Chinatown.
Patrick T. Fallon for The New York Times
Fish is sold by a street vendor.
Patrick T. Fallon for The New York Times
Customers shop at Yue Wa Market and Nam Hoa Fish Market.For more than 70 years, these small businesses have thrived here, lining both sides of the street.
But some local residents and business owners fear this historic immigrant community is now threatened by the newest addition to the neighborhood: Walmart, which plans to open a scaled-down version of its superstore just a few blocks from the heart of Chinatown.
“They’re going to hurt the small businesses,” said Grace Yen, a Taiwanese immigrant who came here in 1986, as she sat in a Chinatown bakery. “They have a bigger market. They’re going to take over everything.”
The Walmart Neighborhood Market would offer Chinatown its first mainstream grocery store in decades. But since the company’s plan was announced in February, a furious battle has broken out over the project, with community activists and labor unions determined to block the world’s largest retailer from the neighborhood.
In March, the City Council banned large chain stores from opening in Chinatown. But Walmart received its building permit a day before that vote, exempting the store from the ban.
Then in June, thousands of protesters marched through Chinatown in a show of opposition to the new Walmart. Several labor unions have also sued to stop the project.
But on Friday a judge declined to halt construction on the store, which began in July, until that case is heard. As a result, the Chinatown Walmart now looks more likely than ever to open as scheduled early next year.
Christilily Chiv, 24, said she worries that Walmart’s arrival in the neighborhood where she was born and raised could mark the start of a major transition in Chinatown, which remains a first stop for many Asian immigrants, into a historic district where immigrants no longer live and work.
“Chinatown is a cultural community,” Ms. Chiv said. “I want to preserve what is there. And I fear what’s going to happen is that by having commercial corporations come in, they are going to erase the cultural community and what it stood for in the first place.”
Still, the storefront where the Walmart Neighborhood Market plans to open has sat vacant for two decades, and many residents are eager to see it filled.
“This community has not had a mainstream grocery store in 74 years,” said George Yu, executive director of the Chinatown Business Improvement District, noting that all grocery stores in the area close by 7 p.m. “What if you want yogurt or cheese? What if you want dog food? Those are pretty basic needs that every community has.”
“Ninety-nine percent of the community supports this market,” Mr. Yu added. “The opposition is coming from outside Chinatown.”
Labor unions have for years criticized Walmart for hiring nonunion workers and paying low wages. And some of the unions and workers’ rights advocates that have helped lead the charge to keep Walmart out of Chinatown also fought to limit Walmart’s influence in other parts of the region.
This year, three of the top candidates in the 2013 Los Angeles mayoral race all vowed not to accept any campaign donations from Walmart, after unions sent a letter urging them to return contributions from the retail giant.
In addition, the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, which helped organize the protest in Chinatown, also helped push through an ordinance that makes it more difficult to open large superstores here.
“We’ve been organizing to try to make sure that neighborhood small businesses are protected,” said Allison Mannos, a spokeswoman for the alliance. “And also to make sure that there are not poverty-level jobs coming in.”
The Walmart Neighborhood Market planned for Chinatown would offer mainly grocery items and a pharmacy. Steven V. Restivo, a spokesman for Walmart, said the company had received largely positive feedback from the community.
“The day our store opens, thousands and thousands of local residents are going to shop at that Walmart Neighborhood Market,” Mr. Restivo said. “Those are people who probably never attended a council meeting or wrote a letter to the editor. They just want to have more options close to where they live and work.”
He added, “In terms of the cultural impact, there is literally a Burger King across the street from our location, and a Subway next door.”
Local residents remained evenly divided, according to a spokeswoman for City Councilman Ed P. Reyes, who represents the area. And even some of the local business owners are not yet sure how Walmart might affect them.
Richard Lam owns an import business, selling clothes and other accessories. He showed off a Walmart app on his smartphone. But he was nervous about the arrival of the store.
“I shop online with Walmart all the time,” he said. “I buy phone. I buy camera. It’s cheap.”
But he added, “If they don’t open, I’m happier.”
Thursday, September 6, 2012
India’s ‘silent’ prime minister becomes a tragic figure - By Simon Denyer - The Washington Post | Comments by Ghulam Muhammed
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
MY COMMENTS POSTED ON WASHINGTON POST WEBSITE OVER SIMON DENYER'S ARTICLE: INDIA'S 'SILENT' PRIME MINISTER BECOMES A TRAGIC FIGURE -- PUBLISHED : SEPTEMBER 5, 2012
"
Washington Post's article following a similar analysis by TIME, doing a hatchet job on India's Prime Minister, has evoked widespread feeling among Indians that a sustain media conspiracy is being hatched by vested interests in the US, to interfere in internal affairs of India, with a view to plan a 'regime change'; now that due to reasons beyond his control, PM is not able to deliver on US demand on opening FDI for Walmart and other retail chains. In this regard, the way US consulate in Mumbai, hosted an Iftar Party in Ahmedabad, to give boost to a image makeover to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, widely condemned for his alleged role in 2002 genocidal massacre of over 2000 Muslims, is seen as a distinct US involvement with promoting Modi, as possible next Prime minister and BJP as forming the next coalition government at the center. By any measure this is most reprehensible act to destabilize a democratic country. Even Israel chipped in with its own Iftar Party in Delhi, thus giving diplomatic support to its comrade in arm, the USA. US role to some extent, in promoting Arab Spring by helping to topple long time dictators can be appreciated. But America's interference in a democratic nation's election process will be and should be condemned by one and all. WP's current article will be treated as one more effort from US vested interests to buy the media and unleash a propaganda barrage against India. The corruption imbroglio is an internal matter of a sovereign nation; but the way opposition, especially BJP is stalling Parliament and threatening the very foundation of democracy in India, it appears to people here in India, that it has a wink from the US to adopt such undemocratic tactics to pull down the government. Indian people are wised up to US tactics and will not easily digest further US interventions in coming elections to choose the next government. It will serve the international peace better, if US remains neutral in India's internal democratic elections, come 2014. A heavy burden falls on America's Jewish owned media, to refrain from any adverse propaganda that will tarnish its own image worldwide. "
---------------------------
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Ethnic violence between India’s Hindu Bodo tribes people and its Muslim minority has prompted many to flee from major cities.
“It has been my general practice not to respond to motivated criticism directed personally at me,” he said. “My general attitude has been, ‘My silence is better than a thousand answers; it keeps intact the honor of innumerable questions.’ ”
Singh probably will survive calls for his resignation, but the scandal represents a new low in a reputation that has been sinking for more than a year.
Singh was born in 1932 into a small-time trader’s family in a village in what is now Pakistan, walking miles to school every day and studying by the light of a kerosene lamp. The family moved to India shortly before partition of the subcontinent in 1947, and Singh pleaded with his father to be allowed to continue with his studies rather than join the dry-fruit trade.
A series of scholarships allowed Singh to continue those studies first at Cambridge and then at Oxford, where he completed a PhD. Marriage was arranged with Gursharan Kaur in 1958; they have three daughters.
A successful career in the bureaucracy followed, but it was in 1991 that Singh was thrust into the spotlight as finance minister amid a financial crisis.
With little choice, Singh introduced a series of policies that freed the Indian economy from suffocating state control and unleashed the dynamism of its private sector.
More than a decade later, in 2004, Singh again found himself on center stage, becoming in his own words an “accidental prime minister.”
The Congress party led by Italian-born Sonia Gandhi had surprised many people by winning national elections that year, but she sprang an even bigger surprise by renouncing the top job and handing it to Singh.
In him she saw not only the perfect figurehead for her government but also a man of unquestioning loyalty, party insiders say, someone she could both trust and control.
“I’m a small person put in this big chair,” Singh told broadcaster Charlie Rose in 2006. “I have to do my duty, whatever task is allotted of me.”
From the start, it was clear that Sonia Gandhi held the real reins of power. The Gandhi family has ruled India for most of its post-
independence history and enjoys an almost cultlike status within the Congress party. Sonia’s word was destined to remain law.
But Singh made his mark during his first term in office, standing up to opposition from his coalition partners and from within his own party to push through a civil nuclear cooperation deal with the United States in 2008, a landmark agreement that ended India’s nuclear isolation after its weapons tests in 1974 and 1998.
It was a moment that almost brought his government down, an issue over which he offered to resign. While no electricity has yet flowed from that pact, it marked a major step forward in India’s relations with the United States.
The Congress-led coalition went on to win a second term in 2009, in what many people saw as a mandate for Singh.
The 2009 election “was a victory for him, but he did not step up to claim it — maybe because he is too academic, maybe because he is too old,” said Tushar Poddar, managing director at Goldman Sachs in Mumbai. “That lack of leadership, that lack of boldness, lack of will — that really shocked us. That really shocked foreign investors.”
‘He suffers from doubts’
In a series of largely off-the-record conversations, friends and colleagues painted a picture of a man who felt undermined by his own party and who sank into depression and self-pity.
His one attempt in 1999 to run for a parliamentary seat from a supposedly safe district in the capital, New Delhi, had ended in ignominious defeat. His failure to contest a parliamentary seat in 2009, making him the only Indian prime minister not to have done so, further undermined both his confidence, his friends and colleagues say, and his standing in the eyes of the party.
Congress, insiders say, never accepted that the 2009 election was a mandate for Singh and jealously resented the idea that he could be seen to be anywhere near as important as a Gandhi. Rahul, Sonia’s son, was being groomed to take over from Singh, and the prime minister needed to be cut down to size.
He soon was openly criticized by his own party over attempts to continue a peace process with Pakistan despite the 2008 attack on Mumbai by Pakistani militants.
Singh became even more quiet at his own cabinet meetings, to the point of not speaking up for the sort of economic changes many thought he ought to be championing.
“His gut instincts are very good, but sometimes he suffers from doubts about the political feasibility, about getting things done,” said Jagdish N. Bhagwati, a Columbia University professor who has been friends with Singh since their Cambridge days.
Singh will go down in history as India’s first Sikh prime minister and the country’s third-longest-serving premier, but also as someone who did not know when to retire, Guha said.
“He is obviously tired, listless, without energy,” he said. “At his time of life, it is not as though he is going to get a new burst of energy. Things are horribly out of control and can only get worse for him, for his party and for his government.”
MY COMMENTS POSTED ON WASHINGTON POST WEBSITE OVER SIMON DENYER'S ARTICLE: INDIA'S 'SILENT' PRIME MINISTER BECOMES A TRAGIC FIGURE -- PUBLISHED : SEPTEMBER 5, 2012
"
ghulammuhammed3
7:15 PM GMT+0530
Washington Post's article following a similar analysis by TIME, doing a hatchet job on India's Prime Minister, has evoked widespread feeling among Indians that a sustain media conspiracy is being hatched by vested interests in the US, to interfere in internal affairs of India, with a view to plan a 'regime change'; now that due to reasons beyond his control, PM is not able to deliver on US demand on opening FDI for Walmart and other retail chains. In this regard, the way US consulate in Mumbai, hosted an Iftar Party in Ahmedabad, to give boost to a image makeover to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, widely condemned for his alleged role in 2002 genocidal massacre of over 2000 Muslims, is seen as a distinct US involvement with promoting Modi, as possible next Prime minister and BJP as forming the next coalition government at the center. By any measure this is most reprehensible act to destabilize a democratic country. Even Israel chipped in with its own Iftar Party in Delhi, thus giving diplomatic support to its comrade in arm, the USA. US role to some extent, in promoting Arab Spring by helping to topple long time dictators can be appreciated. But America's interference in a democratic nation's election process will be and should be condemned by one and all. WP's current article will be treated as one more effort from US vested interests to buy the media and unleash a propaganda barrage against India. The corruption imbroglio is an internal matter of a sovereign nation; but the way opposition, especially BJP is stalling Parliament and threatening the very foundation of democracy in India, it appears to people here in India, that it has a wink from the US to adopt such undemocratic tactics to pull down the government. Indian people are wised up to US tactics and will not easily digest further US interventions in coming elections to choose the next government. It will serve the international peace better, if US remains neutral in India's internal democratic elections, come 2014. A heavy burden falls on America's Jewish owned media, to refrain from any adverse propaganda that will tarnish its own image worldwide. "
---------------------------
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Correction:
An earlier version of this article failed to credit the Caravan, an Indian magazine, for two statements that it originally published in 2011. The assertion by Sanjaya Baru, a former media adviser, that Singh had become an object of ridicule and endured the worst period in his life first appeared in the Caravan, as did an assertion by Ramachandra Guha, a political historian, that Singh was handicapped by his “timidity, complacency and intellectual dishonesty.” While both men told The Post that the assertions could accurately be attributed to them, the article should have credited the Caravan when it used or paraphrased the remarks.
The article has been updated.
An earlier version of this article failed to credit the Caravan, an Indian magazine, for two statements that it originally published in 2011. The assertion by Sanjaya Baru, a former media adviser, that Singh had become an object of ridicule and endured the worst period in his life first appeared in the Caravan, as did an assertion by Ramachandra Guha, a political historian, that Singh was handicapped by his “timidity, complacency and intellectual dishonesty.” While both men told The Post that the assertions could accurately be attributed to them, the article should have credited the Caravan when it used or paraphrased the remarks.
The article has been updated.
India’s ‘silent’ prime minister becomes a tragic figure
Punit Paranjpe/AFP/Getty Images -
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s second term in office
has been damaged by corruption scandals and policy paralysis.
By Simon Denyer, Published: September 5
NEW DELHI —
India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
helped set his country on the path to modernity, prosperity and power,
but critics say the shy, soft-spoken 79-year-old is in danger of going
down in history as a failure.
The architect of India’s economic reforms, Singh was a major force behind his country’s rapprochement with the United States and is a respected figure on the world stage. President Obama’s aides used to boast of his tremendous rapport and friendship with Singh.
The architect of India’s economic reforms, Singh was a major force behind his country’s rapprochement with the United States and is a respected figure on the world stage. President Obama’s aides used to boast of his tremendous rapport and friendship with Singh.
Ethnic violence between India’s Hindu Bodo tribes people and its Muslim minority has prompted many to flee from major cities.
But the image of the scrupulously honorable, humble and
intellectual technocrat has slowly given way to a completely different
one: a dithering, ineffectual bureaucrat presiding over a deeply corrupt
government.
Every day for the past two weeks, India’s Parliament has been adjourned as the opposition bays for Singh’s resignation over allegations of waste and corruption in the allocation of coal-
mining concessions.
The story of Singh’s dramatic fall from grace in his second term in office and the slow but steady tarnishing of his reputation has played out in parallel with his country’s decline on his watch. As India’s economy has slowed and as its reputation for rampant corruption has reasserted itself, the idea that the country was on an inexorable road to becoming a global power has increasingly come into question.
“More and more, he has become a tragic figure in our history,” said political historian Ramachandra Guha. The historian told the Caravan, an Indian magazine, last year that Singh had been fatally handicapped by “timidity, complacency and intellectual dishonesty.’’
The irony is that Singh’s greatest selling points — his incorruptibility and economic experience — are the mirror image of his government’s greatest failings.
Under Singh, economic reforms have stalled, growth has slowed sharply and the rupee has collapsed. But just as damaging to his reputation is the accusation that he looked the other way and remained silent as his cabinet colleagues filled their own pockets.
In the process, he transformed himself from an object of respect to one of ridicule and endured the worst period in his life, Sanjaya Baru, Singh’s media adviser during his first term, said in a 2011 interview with the Caravan. In a telephone conversation, Baru said his sentiments had not changed.
Attendees at meetings and conferences were jokingly urged to put their phones into “Manmohan Singh mode,” while one joke cited a dentist urging the seated prime minister, “At least in my clinic, please open your mouth.”
Singh finally did open his mouth last week, to rebut criticism from the government auditor that the national treasury had been cheated of billions of dollars after coal-mining concessions were granted to private companies for a pittance — including during a five-year period when Singh doubled as coal minister.
Singh denied that there was “any impropriety,” but he was drowned out by catcalls when he attempted to address Parliament on the issue. His brief statement to the media afterward appeared to do little to change the impression of a man whose aloofness from the rough-and-tumble of Indian politics has been transformed from an asset into a liability.
Every day for the past two weeks, India’s Parliament has been adjourned as the opposition bays for Singh’s resignation over allegations of waste and corruption in the allocation of coal-
mining concessions.
The story of Singh’s dramatic fall from grace in his second term in office and the slow but steady tarnishing of his reputation has played out in parallel with his country’s decline on his watch. As India’s economy has slowed and as its reputation for rampant corruption has reasserted itself, the idea that the country was on an inexorable road to becoming a global power has increasingly come into question.
“More and more, he has become a tragic figure in our history,” said political historian Ramachandra Guha. The historian told the Caravan, an Indian magazine, last year that Singh had been fatally handicapped by “timidity, complacency and intellectual dishonesty.’’
The irony is that Singh’s greatest selling points — his incorruptibility and economic experience — are the mirror image of his government’s greatest failings.
Under Singh, economic reforms have stalled, growth has slowed sharply and the rupee has collapsed. But just as damaging to his reputation is the accusation that he looked the other way and remained silent as his cabinet colleagues filled their own pockets.
In the process, he transformed himself from an object of respect to one of ridicule and endured the worst period in his life, Sanjaya Baru, Singh’s media adviser during his first term, said in a 2011 interview with the Caravan. In a telephone conversation, Baru said his sentiments had not changed.
Attendees at meetings and conferences were jokingly urged to put their phones into “Manmohan Singh mode,” while one joke cited a dentist urging the seated prime minister, “At least in my clinic, please open your mouth.”
Singh finally did open his mouth last week, to rebut criticism from the government auditor that the national treasury had been cheated of billions of dollars after coal-mining concessions were granted to private companies for a pittance — including during a five-year period when Singh doubled as coal minister.
Singh denied that there was “any impropriety,” but he was drowned out by catcalls when he attempted to address Parliament on the issue. His brief statement to the media afterward appeared to do little to change the impression of a man whose aloofness from the rough-and-tumble of Indian politics has been transformed from an asset into a liability.
“It has been my general practice not to respond to motivated criticism directed personally at me,” he said. “My general attitude has been, ‘My silence is better than a thousand answers; it keeps intact the honor of innumerable questions.’ ”
Singh probably will survive calls for his resignation, but the scandal represents a new low in a reputation that has been sinking for more than a year.
‘I have to do my duty’
Singh was born in 1932 into a small-time trader’s family in a village in what is now Pakistan, walking miles to school every day and studying by the light of a kerosene lamp. The family moved to India shortly before partition of the subcontinent in 1947, and Singh pleaded with his father to be allowed to continue with his studies rather than join the dry-fruit trade.
A series of scholarships allowed Singh to continue those studies first at Cambridge and then at Oxford, where he completed a PhD. Marriage was arranged with Gursharan Kaur in 1958; they have three daughters.
A successful career in the bureaucracy followed, but it was in 1991 that Singh was thrust into the spotlight as finance minister amid a financial crisis.
With little choice, Singh introduced a series of policies that freed the Indian economy from suffocating state control and unleashed the dynamism of its private sector.
More than a decade later, in 2004, Singh again found himself on center stage, becoming in his own words an “accidental prime minister.”
The Congress party led by Italian-born Sonia Gandhi had surprised many people by winning national elections that year, but she sprang an even bigger surprise by renouncing the top job and handing it to Singh.
In him she saw not only the perfect figurehead for her government but also a man of unquestioning loyalty, party insiders say, someone she could both trust and control.
“I’m a small person put in this big chair,” Singh told broadcaster Charlie Rose in 2006. “I have to do my duty, whatever task is allotted of me.”
From the start, it was clear that Sonia Gandhi held the real reins of power. The Gandhi family has ruled India for most of its post-
independence history and enjoys an almost cultlike status within the Congress party. Sonia’s word was destined to remain law.
But Singh made his mark during his first term in office, standing up to opposition from his coalition partners and from within his own party to push through a civil nuclear cooperation deal with the United States in 2008, a landmark agreement that ended India’s nuclear isolation after its weapons tests in 1974 and 1998.
It was a moment that almost brought his government down, an issue over which he offered to resign. While no electricity has yet flowed from that pact, it marked a major step forward in India’s relations with the United States.
The Congress-led coalition went on to win a second term in 2009, in what many people saw as a mandate for Singh.
The 2009 election “was a victory for him, but he did not step up to claim it — maybe because he is too academic, maybe because he is too old,” said Tushar Poddar, managing director at Goldman Sachs in Mumbai. “That lack of leadership, that lack of boldness, lack of will — that really shocked us. That really shocked foreign investors.”
‘He suffers from doubts’
In a series of largely off-the-record conversations, friends and colleagues painted a picture of a man who felt undermined by his own party and who sank into depression and self-pity.
His one attempt in 1999 to run for a parliamentary seat from a supposedly safe district in the capital, New Delhi, had ended in ignominious defeat. His failure to contest a parliamentary seat in 2009, making him the only Indian prime minister not to have done so, further undermined both his confidence, his friends and colleagues say, and his standing in the eyes of the party.
Congress, insiders say, never accepted that the 2009 election was a mandate for Singh and jealously resented the idea that he could be seen to be anywhere near as important as a Gandhi. Rahul, Sonia’s son, was being groomed to take over from Singh, and the prime minister needed to be cut down to size.
He soon was openly criticized by his own party over attempts to continue a peace process with Pakistan despite the 2008 attack on Mumbai by Pakistani militants.
Singh became even more quiet at his own cabinet meetings, to the point of not speaking up for the sort of economic changes many thought he ought to be championing.
“His gut instincts are very good, but sometimes he suffers from doubts about the political feasibility, about getting things done,” said Jagdish N. Bhagwati, a Columbia University professor who has been friends with Singh since their Cambridge days.
Singh will go down in history as India’s first Sikh prime minister and the country’s third-longest-serving premier, but also as someone who did not know when to retire, Guha said.
“He is obviously tired, listless, without energy,” he said. “At his time of life, it is not as though he is going to get a new burst of energy. Things are horribly out of control and can only get worse for him, for his party and for his government.”
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