Why a President with criminal antecedents?

V SUNDARAM

Election of Rashtrapati of India that is Bharath is a solemn, sacred process. For Sonia Gandhi and her coalition partners, it is a 'disposable political procedure'. Known Sonia Gandhi with known Cambridge University qualifications (with known mafia connections in Italy, Germany and Russia for at least two generations, according to Dr Subramanian Swamy) has chosen the practically unknown Prathiba Patil as the contesting candidate for the highest office of the President of India.

It is now clear even through (!) the organised pseudo- secular mafia of mass media in India that she comes from a family with known and murky antecedents (not very different from that of Sonia Gandhi) with her own brother reported to be involved in a murder case which is the subject matter of a CBI enquiry.

No one in India or abroad can dispute the fact that Dr Abdul Kalam has been truly a PEOPLE'S PRESIDENT and is loved by all the people of India, irrespective of their caste or colour or creed or religion or faith or age. After Independence in August 1947, we have never had a People's President of the stature of Dr Kalam. If a direct election modelled on the American pattern were to be held today, without the political manoeuveres and machinations of petty and vicious anti-national politicians like Sonia Gandhi, Karunanidhi, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Communist politicians of all shades and hues, Dr Kalam would be re-elected as President with overwhelming majority.

In any direct election by the people, Prathiba Patil would be shown her true and fitting place in condemnable Indian politics and condemned India's public life.

The common millions of India (Whether Sonia Gandhi, her servile partymen and her even more slavish coalition members like it or not) today are of the view that Kalam eminently qualifies for national public declaration in perpetuity as a 'gentleman' according to the famous definition of Cardinal Newman (1801-1890) in his book 'The Idea of a University', a series of lectures given in Ireland in 1852:

'Hence it is that it is almost a definition of a gentleman to say that he is one who never inflicts pain. This description is both refined and, as far as it goes, accurate. He is mainly occupied in merely removing the obstacles which hinder the free and unembarrassed action of those about him; and he concurs with their movements rather than takes the initiative himself. His benefits may be considered as parallel to what are called comforts or conveniences in arrangements of a personal nature; like an easy chair or a good fire, which do their part in dispelling cold and fatigue, though nature provides both means of rest and animal heat without them. The true gentleman in like manner carefully avoids whatever may cause a jar or a jolt in the minds of those with whom he is cast � all clashing of opinion, or collision of feeling, all restraint, or suspicion, or gloom, or resentment; his great concern being to make every one at his ease and at home. He has his eyes on all his company; he is tender towards the bashful, gentle towards the distant, and merciful towards the absurd; he can recollect to whom he is speaking; he guards against unseasonable allusions, or topics which may irritate; he is seldom prominent in conversation, and never wearisome. He makes light of favours while he does them, and seems to be receiving when he is conferring. He never speaks of himself except when compelled, never defends himself by a mere retort; he has no ears for slander or gossip, is scrupulous in imputing motives to those who interfere with him, and interprets everything for the best. He is never mean or little in his disputes, never takes unfair advantage, never mistakes personalities or sharp saying for arguments, or insinuates evil which he dare not say out. From a long-sighted prudence, he observes the maxim of the ancient sage, that we should ever conduct ourselves towards our enemy as if he were one day to be our friend. He has too much good sense to be affronted at insults, he is too well employed to remember injuries, and too indolent to bear malice. He is patient, forbearing, and resigned, on philosophical principles; he submits to pain, because it is inevitable, to bereavement, because it is irreparable, and to death, because it is his destiny.'

Now it can be asked as to WHY SHOULD SONIA GANDHI BE AGAINST SUCH A GENTLEMAN 'MINORITY' PRESIDENT AND PEOPLE'S PRESIDENT? A legally irrefutable and politically unassailable answer can be given to this shameful and disgusting question in the following words of Dr Subramanian Swamy

'Patriotic Indians should thank the President of India for having the courage, by citing a legal hitch, to dissuade Sonia from staking her claim to form the government on 17 May this year. She therefore, despite all the contrived media hype, did not, and could not, become the Prime Minister of 1 billion plus people of India.

It can now be said that Bharat Mata has been saved from a monumental, devastating, and permanent injury to her national interest and to the patriotic psyche of Indians.

Therefore, it should be the resolve of every Indian to make any and every effort that can be made in a democracy, to ensure that Sonia is kept permanently out of reckoning for any public office. For those who instinctively understand that imperative, this note has been written to explain the factual basis for this rational determination, and suggest what patriotic Indians can do now to implement that democratic and patriotic resolution.

My opposition to Sonia Gandhi is not merely because she is Italian�born, although that by itself is a major issue. In other democratic countries, including in Italy, such an issue [of foreign-born aspiring to be head of government] would not even arise at all because the issue has already been settled by incorporating into law that a person cannot hold the highest public office unless he or she is native born.

In India there is no such law but the President, according my knowledge, has correctly acted on a proviso to Section 5 of the Indian Citizenship Act [1955] which requires the Union Home Ministry to lay down conditions to Indian citizenship acquired by foreigners by registration, condition based on the principle of reciprocity.

In Sonia Gandhi's case, such of those conditions that apply to Indians on becoming citizens of Italy, would apply to her.

The President reportedly had communicated to Sonia on the afternoon of 17 May, 2004, that if she insisted on being invited to form the government, he would want first to clarify, on a reference to the Supreme Court, whether in view of this proviso her appointment as PM could be successfully challenged in the court.

It is fair to assume that this report of the President's decision is correct, since the President had before him my petition dated 15 May, 2004 making just that point� that Sonia Gandhi's citizenship is conditional, and in particular she cannot be the PM legally.

The President had also given me an appointment at 12.45 pm on 17 May, 2004 to explain my submissions in person, which I did. I also told him that I would challenge such an unconstitutional appointment in the Supreme Court just as I had in 2001 when Jayalalitha was illegally sworn in as Chief Minister by the Tamilnadu Governor'

'I also cited to the President a 1962 Allahabad High Court case which held that this provision in the Citizenship Act was binding and lawful.

The nation by the stalling of Sonia becoming Prime Minister of India, has thus got an unexpected but temporary reprieve, a reprieve received not only because her citizenship of India by registration is not equal to one by birth even by Indian law, but a reprieve more because of the national security risk that was averted.

To comprehend that risk, we must however first understand who Sonia Gandhi really is and what kind of danger she, her family and her friends in Italy, hold for India's national security. Very little is known about the Mainos' murky past, and the little that we are told about Sonia are lies. In other words, Indians do not know who Sonia really is or what she represents.

Even for an Indian born citizen, we find it difficult to know a person's true background, but for a foreign-born it is extremely hard because of the remoteness of the place and the language barrier for most people, in this case�Italian.

This note is thus an aide d'memoir of certain verifiable facts that taken together constitute the danger that Sonia Gandhi represents for the nation. And that is the real Sonia and what she represents.'

Now to come to the family background of Pratibha Patil. There is an ongoing CBI investigation on a criminal case, a cognizable offence, of the murder of the husband of Rajni Patil who has accused Pratibha Patil's brother and also accused Pratibha Patil herself of shielding her brother. There is also another criminal case reported involving the default of a loan by a sugar factory reportedly owned by Pratibha Patil. Is it not morally incumbent on Pratibha Patil to voluntarily withdraw her candidature and inform those who have filed the nominations on her behalf today (23 June 2007)? Article 58 prescribes the Qualifications for election as President of India. The key clause is that the person should be qualified for election as a member of the House of the People. Pratibha Patil has to declare the assets owned by herself and by members of her family, a procedure required under law to be followed by her,, if she is to be eligible for contesting as a candidate for the House of the People.

A prominent anti-Hindu national daily of Chennai, dating its origin to the pre-Christian era, has suggested that our gentleman President and People's President Dr Abdul Kalam should have gracefully withdrawn from the current contest. The same daily has not given similar advice to Pratibha, despite recent disturbing disclosures by the mass media about her family background.

Perhaps Abraham Lincoln had politicians like Mrs Prathiba Patil of today in view when he wrote the following prophetic words to W H Herndon in 1861: �The struggle and scramble for office, for a way to live without work, will finally test the strength of our institutions�. Concealment, evasion, factious combinations, the surrender of all convictions to Sonia Gandhi, the de facto dictator of India today like Mussolini in Italy from 1922 to 1943, the systematic pursuit of expediency totally committed to shameless self-aggrandizement-these seem to be the over-riding credentials of Mrs Prathiba Patil. All these disgusting and disgraceful credentials have been sponsored by the Congress Party functioning as 'Servants of Sonia Society' (SOSS) today. The noble and sacred tradition of selfless public work in our national history initiated by Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1866-1915) in 1905 has been given a death blow forever by an Italian lady called Sonia Gandhi and her private inherited estate called the 'Servants of Sonia Society' (SOSS) by their putting up a totally unfit and unworthy candidate for the highest Office of the President of India

When Gopal Krishna Gokhale founded the Servants of India Society in Pune on 12 June, 1905, he pledged to carry out his national public service in a religious spirit and to promote, by all constitutional means, the national spirit of the India people. The founding of this brotherhood was the outcome of Gokhale's convictions that if the masses were to be liberated to function as active members of free India, they must have a band of selfless and intelligent workers who would dedicate their lives to the service of the nation. These workers must take the vow of renunciation, give up all ideas of selfishness, pride, fame and be one with their work and duty. The members of the Servants of India Society were trained to be nationalistic missionaries, and Gokhale inculcated in them virtues of fearlessness, truth, courage and firmness. Sonia Gandhi has proposed the name of Mrs. Prathiba Patil precisely for the reason that her proven public track record, both in the Congress Party and Government, has been totally devoid of these cardinal virtues.

Under the anti-national leadership of Sonia Gandhi, the Congress Party has become a party of men with such credential as can be appropriately described only in the following words of the poet of American Democracy Walt Whitman (1819-1892): �The members who composed it (any Democratic Party National Convention prior to the Civil War) were, seven-eighths of them, the meanest kind of bawling and blowing officeholders, office-seekers, pimps, malignant, conspirators, murderers, fancy-men, kept-editors, spaniels well-trained to carry and fetch, jobbers, infidels, disunionists, terrorists, slave catchers, pushers of slavery, spies, bribers, compromisers, lobbyers, sponges, expelled gamblers, Policy-backers, carriers of concealed weapons, deaf men, pimpled men, scarred inside with vile disease, gaudy outside with gold chains made from the people's money and harlots' money twisted together; crawling, serpentine men, the lousy combinings and born freedom-sellers of the earth�.

The above words of Walt Whitman are very relevant to the Indian situation created by the Congress Party and its partners in the UPA Alliance today. Mrs Prathiba Patil is supposed to be a champion of women's rights, women's emancipation and women's liberation. She is supposed to be an educationalist of world stature. She is supposed to be the founding architect of micro co-operative banking in the Vidharba region. A harbinger of rural socio economic development in Jalegaon and Amaravathi Districts of Maharashtra. Regarding her established, proven and splendid credentials as a public worker, I would like to present the following facts highlighted by Arun Shourie in his brilliant article entitled �Electing a President, rashtramaataa, Prathiba Patil, True Story (the financial frauds, the murder, the deliberate derailment of the investigation)

Arun Shourie introduces the pseudo- secularly Sonia sublime subject in a saffronized and communal manner as follows: 'A big step for women� This shows India has a lot of respect for women� My nomination will inspire other women and help their empowerment�' � that is how Pratibha Patil described her selection as the UPA candidate for being our President. Loyalists, of course, went one better. 'A firm believer in women's causes and a tireless champion of spreading education among girls� One who always stands for a better deal for women� active role in checking such evils as female foeticide and dowry...' 'Working women of Mumbai hail�' 'Yes, Ma'am Commander' � Armymen look forward to reporting to first woman Supreme Commander of Armed Forces�And all this within two days of her selection.

Her bio-data lists her 'special interests' as 'development of rural economy and welfare of women', and lists as evidence, 'Establishment of Pratibha Mahila Sahakari Bank at Jalgaon, Maharashtra� of Mahila Vikas Mahamandal�' It records her being Managing Trustee, Shram Sadhana Trust, as her being the 'Chief Promoter and Chairperson of Sugar Factory in Jalgaon District'. It records her having set up the Engineering College 'for the benefit of rural youth'�

Let me now present with bated breath the bare and lurid facts about Prathiba Patil's resplendent magnificence and luminosity.

A) THE PRATIBHA MAHILA SAHAKARI BANK-The Co-operative Bank set up by Mrs Prathiba Patil in her own name in 1973 (with herself as its first Chairperson) to help rural women below the poverty line. Many members of her own family were its founding directors. Mrs. Pratibha Patil herself became a director for several terms. As for members of her family, they inter-changed, among themselves, the chairs of the Board of Directors in one 'election' after another. But while others changed places, Pratibha Patil continued as Founder Chairperson right till the demise of the bank in 2003. All the main line English Print and TV Media today, with pseudo secular commitment, carefully avoid mentioning the brutal fact that this bank was liquidated under orders of the Reserve Bank of India in 2003 on the telling ground that its continuance would be prejudicial to the interests of depositors. But this shameful fact will in no way be prejudicial to the nomination of Mrs Pratibha Patil for the highest Office of President of India. To our great national misfortune and disgrace, if she happens to win the election, she will become the most classic instance of a successful President with shady credentials in our failed Banana State.

B) WHO GOT THE LOANS??

Like Sonia Gandhi helping Rahul Gandhi to get elected as a Member of Parliament from one of her Pocket-Boroughs in UP, Mrs. Pratibha Patil as Chairperson helped the following assetless members of her family, living below the poverty line, to obtain loans for the acquisition of small assets like Milch Cows, Bicycles, Auto-Rickshaws etc (!!!). These poor people never repaid the loans. Here are the details which tell the heart rending story about this helplessly poor people.

The man point to be noted from the above table is that millions of women in the region of operation of THE PRATIBHA MAHILA SAHAKARI BANK in Maharashtra were helped by Mrs Pratibha Patil through her family members listed above and all of whom required the help of Mrs. Pratibha Patil to lift themselves above the poverty line. Behind the pseudo-Secular female Pardha (veil!) of Mrs. Pratibha Patil, we can see the Dance of the Dervishes of the male members of her family!!. Such a great woman with a tremendous record of self -chosen poverty, simplicity and self-sacrifice has been collectively proposed by three other international giants like Sonia Gandhi, Karunanidhi and Mayavathi (with the same track record of service and self sacrifice like Mrs. Pratibha Patil) for the highest Office of the President of India.

C) AS A CHAMPION OF EMPLOYEES' UNIONS:

Perhaps Mrs Pratibha Patil is being solidly supported by CPI (M) and CPI only because she is a great Champion of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat as defined by Karl Marx and Lenin!! The Cooperative Bank Employees Union wrote one memorandum after another exposing how the Directors of the Pratibha Mahila Sahakari Bank were systematically bankrupting the bank. They demanded dismissal of the family-controlled board. They demanded a CBI inquiry against Pratibha Patil. Let us hear from her own employees on her motherly concern and compassion for Labour interests which has won the hearts of Prakash Karat, Seetharam Yechuri, Brinda Karat, Raja and other Lenins, Karl Marxs and Mao Tse Tungs of todays India. All of them are supporting the candidature of Mrs. Pratibha Patil for the Office of the President of India because with the above credentials she will give a beautiful and concrete shape to the attainable dreams of Karl Marx and Lenin about the �Withering Away of the State� and the advancement of the cause of the proletariat.

        The Presidential nominee
of a political imposter from Italy like Sonia Gandhi, I mean Smt Pratibha
Patil, seems to hail from a family with criminal antecedents. It has been
reported that Prof Rajani Patil, widow of the Congress leader in Jalagaon
(Maharashtra) who became a victim of political murder in September 2005,
came to Delhi and addressed the press on 22 June 2007. On the previous
day, she had submitted a detailed memorandum to President Dr A P J Abdul
Kalam, alleging that the conspirator behind her husband's murder was none
other than the brother of Smt Pratibha Patil, then Governor of Rajasthan
(and now UPA's candidate for the Presidential election). She also alleged
that Smt Pratibha Patil (who too hails from Jalagaon) has been misusing
her political influence to protect her brother. It is understood that she
took a big risk in coming to Delhi and presenting before the national media
the murky facts of this murder case. Never before in the history of mankind,
in any part of the world, a person with such shady, unscrupulous and murky
background as Smt.Pratibha Patil, was ever sponsored by a leading political
party for the highest office of the Head of the State, as is now happening
in our country. It is a disastrous symbol of the triumph of Italian mafia
(backed up by the EU and United States) to unsettle and destroy the Indian
State.

        Soon after Prof Rajani Patil's
shocking revelations in the national capital, a lot of additional information,
pertaining to Smt Pratibha Patil and her family, has started coming out
in the media. Now the whole country knows that she is a champion of women's
rights only in the political sense in which Sonia Gandhi deems, declares,
dictates and delivers it. Smt Pratibha Patil is a shining symbol of Congress
brand of Super - Sonia democracy in which any exercise of freedom of speech
within the party will only result in the total loss of freedom after speech.
Natwar Singh found himself in such an unenviable predicament. Against this
background, more and more people are asking themselves the question: 'Does
Smt Pratibha Patil, a tainted person with such a criminal family background
deserve to become the President of India?'

        On 21 June, 2007, Prof Rajani
Patil gave a memorandum to the President of India in which she stated as
follows :

        ''Subject: A brokenhearted
widow's plea for justice in a case of politically motivated murder of my
husband, Shri V G Patil, President of the District Congress Committee of
Jalagaon (Maharashtra), followed by mysterious death of the murderer, and
protection to the conspirators by Smt Pratibha Patil, Governor of Rajasthan

        Most Respected Rashtrapatiji,

        I am an ordinary woman, a
widow whose husband was snatched away from me by a brutal political murder
which took place in Jalagaon exactly 21 months ago. I have come to you
in search of justice, which has eluded me so far even though I have moved
from pillar to post hoping, in vain, that those in power in Mumbai and
New Delhi would listen to the cry of a helpless woman and discharge their
lawful duty.

        My husband was murdered near
our house in Jalagaon on the morning of 21 September 2005. All the people
of Jalagaon district were outraged and immediately came to the conclusion
that this crime had been committed by the rivals of my husband within the
Congress party. The police soon arrested two assailants � Raju Mali and
Raju Sonawane � who were both supporters of Dr G N Patil, brother of Smt.
Pratibha Patil, in his bid to win the DCC Presidential election. In fact,
the initial confessions of these two persons before the police also confirmed
that they had acted at the behest of some powerful persons in the local
Congress party. The police even told the press that they had nabbed the
assassins and would 'soon catch the conspirators'.

        My pain is deeper because
both my family and the family of my late husband, Prof V G Patil, who was
president of the Jalagaon District Congress Committee at the time of his
murder, have had a long and dedicated association with the Congress party.
I am the proud daughter of a Freedom Fighter. I did not expect that the
voice of some unscrupulous, corrupt and criminal-minded people in the Congress
party in Jalagaon, who gave 'supari' for my husband's murder, would carry
greater weight in the corridors of power both in Mumbai and in New Delhi.
I have, therefore, come to you because you are the Custodian of the Constitution
and Protector of the Rule of Law.�

        So much for the decent and
cultured antecedents of the family of Sonia's nominee for the Office of
the President of India.

        In these columns yesterday,
I had written about the unscrupulous and callous manner in which Smt.Pratibha
Patil distributed loans like CASH DOLES to her brothers and close relations
(helpless people below the poverty line !) through Pratibha Mahila Sahakari
Bank in Jalegoan of which she was the Founder Chairman and continued in
that capacity till the bank was closed and liquidated on specific orders
of the Reserve Bank of India in 2003.

        According to Prakash Karat,
Seetaram Yechuri, Brinda Karat, Raja and other Communist stalwarts, Smt
Pratibha Patil is a crusader for labour rights. Let us hear what the Employees'
Union of that liquidated bank has to say on the Presidential nominee of
Sonia Gandhi who according to the Congress Party has beaten the unbeatable
record of Mahatma Gandhi in the realm of supreme self sacrifice for the
Indian nation in general and the poor people of India in particular.

        In a lengthy memorandum dated
3.12.2001, the Employees' Union complained, the 'Founder Chairperson Pratibha
Patil � during, before and after the period when she was formally on the
Board of Directors � has facilitated the loot of large sums of money in
the form of unlawful loans without surety extended to her own relatives
and to people close to her family.' This gave a special thrill and joy
to Sonia Gandhi and her henchmen in the Congress.

        The Union alleged that, even
though the bank was on the verge of bankruptcy, Pratibha Patil got huge
amounts of interest waived on the loans given to her close relatives. As
illustrations, they listed three such accounts:

        1) Anjali Dilipsingh Patil
(Pratibha Patil's niece), who got a WAIVER of Rs. 21.86 lakh;

        2) Kavita Aravind Patil (sister-in-law
of Pratibha Patil), who got a WAIVER of Rs. 8.59 lakh; and

        3) Rajkaur Dilipsingh Patil
(another sister-in-law of Pratibha Patil), who got a WAIVER of Rs. 2.47
lakh.

        After the waivers were given,
thanks to the influence of Smt.Pratibha Patil, the above accounts were
promptly closed!

        Thus, the Union concluded,
'there is a loot of Rs. 32.93 lakh'. The Union also stated �Pratibha Patil,
her elder brother Dilipsingh Patil and the Board of Directors have, through
different means, robbed nearly Rs. 2 crore� The bank is thus being bankrupted
through a collusive strategy.' 'What kind of morality is this?�.

        What appeared to be immoral
to the Employees' Union in Jalaegaon, becomes moral, elevating and ennobling
in the Dravidian political context in Tamilnadu. No wonder Karunanidhi
is organizing a big women's rally in support of such a great, exemplary
and unmatched woman as Smt. Pratibha Patil in Chennai to arouse the enthusiasm
of the Tamil people in popular support of the candidature of Smt. Pratibha
Patil for the Office of the President of India. While Bal Thakeray of Shiv
Sena is willing to support Smt Pratibha Patil on the ground that she hails
from Maharashtra, Karunanidhi and his party are too willing to dump a Peoples'
President and Gentleman's President like Dr Abdul Kalam whose mother tongue
is Tamil and who hails from a small village near Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu,
into the bay of Bengal. This despite the fact that Dr.Abdul Kalam can on
no account be dismissed as an impotent Hindu refugee! So much for Karunanidhi's
love for Tamil and Tamil people and more particularly for the minority
Muslim community in Tamilnadu.

        When the above legally irrefutable
facts are presented to the public, the disgraceful Congress Party comes
out with a cheap political comment � all this is the work of the disgruntled
BJP and its allies who are unable to field a candidate to match the intellectual,
ethical, moral and official global stature of Maha Mata Smt Pratibha Patil�.
The nation as a whole would like to give a rejoinder to Super Sonia and
her Private Limited Company called the Congress in the following unbeatable
words of Arun Shourie :

        �It so happens that all the
events, documents, proceedings in court, communications, etc., pertain
to the period before Pratibha Patil was plucked from nowhere to be the
Presidential candidate. And they are being recounted today PRECISELY BECAUSE
Pratibha Patil has been nominated to become the President of the country.
Till the other day, these were frauds of some district politicians. The
murder was of concern primarily to the Jalagaon people. PRECISELY BECAUSE
PRATIBHA PATIL IS LIKELY TO BECOME THE PRESIDENT, EACH FACET � THE FINANCIAL
FRAUDS, THE MURDER, THE DELIBERATE DERAILMENT OF THE INVESTIGATION � BECOMES
A MATTER OF URGENT NATIONAL CONCERN. IF THE FRAUDS AND MURDER ARE NOT EXHUMED
TODAY, WHY, THAT WOULD BE A REAL CONSPIRACY��

        To Sonia Gandhi tracing her
roots to Italy ( Mafia not excluded ! ), these facts / aspects are totally
irrelevant to the welfare of India and her helpless people.

        Perhaps V I Lenin (1870-1924)
had unscrupulous politicians like Sonia Gandhi, M Karunanidhi, Lalu Yadav,
Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat and Seetharam Yechuri in view when he said
in 1917: 'There are no morals in politics; there is only expedience. A
scoundrel may be of use to us just because he is a scoundrel.' The great
politicians who have proposed and signed the nomination papers of Srimati
Pratibha Patil for the highest office of the President of India, are supporting
her only for the reasons clearly outlined by Lenin.

        In these columns I have already
described the glory and the grandeur of the SAGA of Self-less Service and
Self-Sacrifice of Pratibha Patil in the field of rural development, empowerment
of women, poverty alleviation, female education, social welfare, industrial
peace and labour welfare in her capacity as the Founder-Chairperson of
the Pratibha Mahila Sahkari Bank in Jalegaon in Maharashtra. In this context
I am presenting below some mean, sordid and biting facts about her husband
in the light of an article by Arun Shourie titled: 'And don't forget: there
is the husband too.' The trouble with women's empowerment is that, carried
away, people forget that there is the husband too! It is clear from this
article that the high ideals of Devisingh Shekhawat, the distinguished
husband of Pratibha Patil, have always marched along those of his wife,
in letter and spirit, in the field of education and social empowerment.
It is now publicly known that in one of the schools run by Devisingh Shekhawat,
a teacher called Kisan Dhage was driven to suicide by the cruel ways and
excesses of dictatorial management. He and his associates have blocked
the processes of equity and natural justice, apart from legal justice in
this case. Devisingh Shekhawat is the President of the society. He is also
the Accused No. 1 in the case that I am about to summarise. Here is the
painful sequence of facts and events:

        Kisan Dhage joined the school
run by the Shekhawats in 1977. He worked as an Assistant Teacher. After
prolonged privation and harassment, on 15 November 1998, he took his life
by swallowing poison.

        The police were called. As
they examined the body in the presence of witnesses, they discovered in
his pocket a suicide note that Dhage had written in his own hand. They
also found a stamp-paper - Dhage had written out on it also the painful
account of events that were leading him to take his own life.

        He set out how he had been
harassed and mentally tortured for long by Devisingh and his associates.
His salary was not paid. His pleas for credit from the credit society that
is run by the education society that runs the schools were turned down.
The forms to enable his son to take the examination for scholarship were
blocked. The family was driven to starvation.

        Eventually, they dubbed him
'surplus', and transferred him to a far-off school. It turned out that
there was no vacancy for a teacher's position in this school. Dhage was
shoved around and told to supervise the hostel, such as it was. In despair,
Dhage wrote to the Social Welfare Department in Amravati. On 27 January,
1998, the Social Welfare Officer at Amravati, wrote to the school management
saying that the transfer was illegal as there was no vacancy for the position
of a teacher in the school to which the hapless man had been driven. The
Officer, therefore, withheld sanction for the transfer.

        To beat him into submission,
Devisingh and associates completely stopped paying the salary of Dhage.
He received nothing from September 1997. Being a family of little means,
they were at their tether's end. Dhage appealed to the Nagpur Bench of
the Bombay High Court for relief - there is no vacancy for a teacher in
this school, they have sent me here, they have stopped paying any remuneration,
we are at the point of starvation - Such were his pathetic pleas.

        The application was filed
on 19 January, 1998. But the wheels of justice move at deliberate speed.
The order of the High Court did not come till 8 October 1998. By now a
year had passed since the family had received any pay at all.

        The High Court ordered Devisingh
and associates to take Dhage back as teacher and to pay his salary. It
also directed them to pay arrears since 25 August 1997.

        Dhage kept going to the management.
He waited upon these high and mightily-connected personages. His health
broke down. He applied for medical leave - he attached a medical certificate
with his application. His request even for medical leave was rejected peremptorily.

        Nothing moved them. In spite
of the High Court's direction, Devisingh and Co. refused to pay him anything.
Dhage's colleagues were aghast. But helpless. The family had to turn to
moneylenders. They had to sell the wife's few ornaments. But now there
was little left even to sell.

        Unable to secure food for
his wife and children, crushed by the insolence of these heartless people
belonging to Pratibha Patil's family, around 10 in the morning on 15 November,
1998, Dhage swallowed poison and killed himself.

        The police recorded the panchnama.
It took the suicide note, the stamp paper and all. The body was taken away.
The viscera were removed for examination.

        And then, full stop.

        Dhage's widow, Mangalbai,
filed a complaint. Police looked the other way. Mangalbai then approached
the Local Court. Eventually the Local Court ruled in favour of Mangalbai.
It set out the entire sequence: The harassment; the illegal transfer; the
stoppage of salary to beat the man into submission; the order of the High
Court that the salary as well as the arrears be paid - In spite of the
High Court order 'not even a single penny' has been paid, the Court noted.
Finally the Court declared that a prima facie case had indeed been made
out.'

        Thereafter the matter was
reported to the police by the complainant (Mangalbai Dhage). The Local
Court observed, 'however; under the political pressure (of Mrs. Pratibha
Patil and her family-italics within this bracket mine?!?) police did not
register offence against the accused� Complainant has proved her prima
facie case' - That was on 6 October, 2000 - by now three years had gone
since the poor man's salary had been stopped, two years since he had killed
himself.

        To quote the searing words
of Arun Shourie in this context:

        'A family as devoted to education,
and women's welfare, and rural development and everything good and gracious
as Pratibha Patil's bio-data makes her out to be, would have immediately
agreed to day-to-day hearings - to say nothing of not having such privation
befall a hapless teacher and his family in the first place. What did our
friend do? He filed an appeal against the order of the Court with the Additional
Sessions Judge.

        After a lapse of five years,
the Judicial Magistrate, A A Nandagaonkar, delivered the judgement. He
gave a resounding slap to Devisingh Shekhawat - the plea of Mangalbai Dhage,
the poor widow of late Kisan Dhage, was upheld in entirety by the Court
of Law. The Court stated 'The complainant, Mangalbai, has proved the prima
facie case against the accused - Devisingh Shekhawat and his associates.
Therefore, I am of the opinion that issuance of process against the accused
is necessary. Hence, as such enquiry made by me upon going through the
facts and circumstances of the matter and evidence adduced by the complainant
is sufficient enough to proceed against the accused for commission of offence
u/s 306 read with 34 of the IPC.' This judgment was delivered on 22 July
2005, seven years after Kisan Dhage decided to take his own life following
his failure to get speedy and even handed justice in our country.

        Even after that Court Judgment,
Devisingh Shekhawat did not allow justice to proceed. Even without the
help or approval of the Would-be First Woman of the Republic, he filed
an appeal in the High Court. On 26 December, 2005, the High Court passed
an order directing the local Court to examine the grounds that Devisingh
and associates had now given against the order and dispose of the revision
application within three months.

        In a final stinging slap,
the reviewing judge concluded in his order dated 7 February 2007 that Devisingh
and Co. had no ground for their appeal at all. He showed that the elaborate
judgements that Devisingh's lawyers had cited, that each and every one
of them in fact fortified what the original Court had done. The evidence
that had been adduced, the sequence of events that had been brought on
record, the Judge ruled, 'are sufficient enough to inspire (sic) that these
accused had abetted Mr. Kisan Dhage to commit suicide by creating unbearable
situation for his survival and also making him unable to maintain his family
members.' 'The series of facts alleged in the complaint also inspire (sic)
that all these accused are in collusion with each other and therefore as
far as the question of prima facie case is concerned, there are sufficient
grounds brought on record before the learned lower court'

        The wife of such a man, Srimati
Pratibha Patil has been proposed by Sonia Gandhi for the Office of the
President of India. Sonia Gandhi has been hailed as the Tallest Leader
in our deprived land by our disgustingly servile Prime Minister. In Indian
politics there is no honour. In Sonia Congress Politics nothing is contemptible.
In our shameful democracy politics consists wholly of the discovery, chase
and scortching of Bugaboos.

        'Indian politics have
changed of late,

       Which leaves me piqued and sad
:

        No longer can I separate

        The good lies from the
bad'.

        After Arun Shourie's brilliant
'expose' of the multifarious deeds and misdeeds of Smt.Pratibha Patil,
her husband and many members of her family bordering on corruption and
crime, the national and international public credentials of Smt Pratibha
Patil, Sonia Gandhi's glorious Presidential Candidate, have sunk to abysmal
depths of unprecedented disgrace in our recent political history. Since
her defence lawyers in the regular legal profession have not been able
to defend her and her other family members, Dr Manmohan Singh has stepped
into that gaping void by dismissing all the legal allegations made against
Smt Pratibha Patil and, her husband and which are under trial in several
Courts of Law in Maharashtra, in a cavalier manner as 'This is only mudslinging'.
Our ever collapsing and collapsible Prime Minister wants us to believe
that the Courts of Law which have admitted the petitions against Smt Pratibha
Patil's husband are only indulging in mudslinging. Arun Shourie is indulging
in mudslinging. Eminent journalists like Prof Madhav Das Nalapat, Sandya
Jain and many others who have argued against the candidature of Smt Pratibha
Patil are all guilty of mudslinging. The Director of CBI and his officers
who are conducting an enquiry are also guilty of mudslinging.

        The highest proof of virtue
is to possess boundless unlimited power without abusing it. According to
Dr Manmohan Singh, that proof lies in abusing it in an unabashed manner
for the survival of a few criminals in Indian politics at the highest level.
Till the candidature of Smt. Pratibha Patil was proposed by Sonia Gandhi,
the known political weakness in mind heart and spirit of Dr Manmohan Singh,
rather than his unknown political wickedness, was playing havoc with our
national public life. Till then, I was of the view that all the problems
of India today were being caused by the weakness of his goodness rather
than by the strength of his evil. Now the true political picture about
his personality and image has clearly emerged. After the formal announcements
of the Presidential nomination of Smt Pratibha Patil whose criminal antecedents
and that of the close members of her family have become nationally and
internationally known, Dr Manmohan Singh for the first time has shown his
true colours in the realm of political expediency if not wickedness, by
declaring that all the allegations made by many responsible citizens of
India against the candidature of Smt.Pratibha Patil are baseless and unfounded.

        Bernard Shaw said that political
virtue consists not only in avoiding crime but also in not desiring it.
By dismissing all the legally legitimate allegations made against Smt Pratibha
Patil and her close family members as �Mudslinging� efforts, Dr Manmohan
Singh has made it clear that for him political virtue consists not only
in not avoiding crime but also in passionately desiring it with all his
mind heart and soul in order to please that person to whom he owes his
'High Office' and political existence.

        I fully endorse the brilliant
and incisive analysis of Dr Madhav Das Nalapat in his essay The Big Story
� Why is Sonia against Kalam? To quote him : �SONIA Gandhi's visceral opposition
to the re-nomination of the current incumbent of Rashtrapati Bhavan, Dr
A P J Abdul Kalam is inexplicable. Why is Sonia so negative about Abdul
Kalam? Is it because he supports Indian interests? Knowing the mind of
Sonia Gandhi, on whom he depends for his job, Manmohan Singh has reportedly
agreed to the US demand that India cap the Agni-III programme to a 5000-kilometre
range. This would mean the end of this country's hopes of becoming a competitor
to Europe in the satellite launch market. Given Sonia's preferences, such
an outcome may not be at all unpalatable to her, for anytime she has the
luxury of getting back her EU passport, the way Alberto Fujumori switched
from Peruvian to Japanese in a flash. Should she do so, the fact that she
was responsible for the emasculation of India would go very much in her
favour. Whether it is the clandestine sale of thorium under the guise of
'exports of sand' or the efforts at signing the nuclear deal, or the retreat
from Siachen and Sir Creek, this UPA government has reduced India to the
stature of a diplomatic dwarf, in the process magnifying the role of Europe
in South Asia. Even though he has almost never openly spoken his mind on
such matters, it is known that President Kalam is deeply concerned about
the direction of Indian policy, and the long-term impact of the Maino Doctrine
(India as Dwarf) on the country's security. He would be troubled by the
attempted destruction of the rocket and space programme under the cover
of capping the range of the country's missiles to a level that would render
the billion-plus people of the land defenseless in the event of a first
strike by a nuclear power other than Pakistan. Is this defence of Indian
interests the reason why the UPA has been prevented from backing a second
term in office for President Kalam?.... The President is therefore an unpleasant
example to the UPA, which revels in a five-star lifestyle while talking
about the aam aadmi. Is the fact that he is honest the reason why the UPA
has decided to dump Abdul Kalam?�

        According to Sandya Jain,
Smt Pratibha Patil has no nationalist credentials and no empathy for India's
foundational ethos and national culture. Her sensitivities extend only
to the faith of her Roman Catholic leader, to please whom Smt Pratibha
Patil denied assent to the anti-conversion Bill in Rajasthan, despite strong
provocation by the Immanuel Mission in Kota and evangelists in Dangs. Ms
Patil was aware that similar laws have been passed by Congress regimes,
the latest being Himachal Pradesh where conversion sprees and drug-laced
moonlight parties by Western tourists are polluting the environment. Her
anti-Hindu act elevated her status with the Vatican and New Delhi.

        Is it not a grim national
tragedy that there are people with criminal records in the central ministry,
parliament, legislatures and state governments. In a criminalised polity,
who is likely to be elected as Rashtramaataa? Then, a brother, now a husband.
The veil is a cover. Dr.Kalyanaraman writes poignantly as follows : �The
prima donna (PD) should bear full responsibility for desecrating every
constitutional office, starting with the set up of a substitute PM who
calls this mudslinging. Kamaraj used to say: ore kutteyile oorina mattai,
palm swathe soaked in the same mud bath. Is there anything to choose, PM?
Why is the Hon'ble PM talking on behalf of the candidate? Doesn't she have
a voice of her own? Electing a family with tainted records will put the
coping stone on the criminalised polity orchestrated by a PD and jaalra-s
(side orchestra of cymbals). There are some who hear conscience voices,
there are others who seem to be conscience-keepers. Shame on the state
of adharma running riot in India that is not Bharat�.

        The post of 'President' signifies
the 'Sovereignty & Integrity' in the democratic set-up of our Great
Nation. Apart from being the 'Supreme Commander' of our mighty Armed forces,
the President must ensure the sanctity of our Constitution. The decisions
made by the President are 'vital' at times like reconsideration of a 'bill'
passed by Parliament, dismissal of a State Government, dissolution of Parliament
and passing of Constitutional amendments brought in by the parliament.
So, the Presidential nominee must have the relevant knowledge, exposure
& experience apart from having a clean public image with clear antecedents.
Hence, the highest constitutional authority namely the 'President' must
be elected on a consensus in a healthy democracy.

        B R Haran, another 'mudslinger'
according to our surrogate Prime Minister, has rightly concluded : �What
is happening now in the case of Prathiba Patil is that, she has been chosen
for the post of highest constitutional authority by an 'extra constitutional
authority' (read Sonia), which doesn't have any responsibility or accountability
towards the people of this country, with a sole aim of serving her self
interests. While the congressmen are known for their sycophancy & spinelessness,
the other allies have fallen in line in order to achieve their own self-interests,
as they are also known for their lack of interests on matters of national
interests�.

        While a small responsible
section of the media reported the dubious antecedents of Smt Pratibha Patil
, a large irresponsible and pseudo-secular media including the 24X7 English
Channels followed obediently the footsteps of Congress President and reported
that none of the accusations pointed finger on Prathiba Patil and that
she is not directly involved in those issues.

        What is most condemnable
is the attitude of the congress President. She has proposed the name of
Prathiba Patil and announced her candidature, terming it as 'historic',
knowing fully well the dubious antecedents of her presidential nominee.
Talking of historicity, the election of Prathiba Patil as the President
would be certainly a 'blot' in the history of I independent India, worse
than the 'Emergency'. The entire episode has exposed the irresponsibility,
arrogance and the scant regards which the UPA Government under the stranglehold
of Sonia Gandhi has for Constitutional propriety and the Law of the Land.
Alas! The election of 'President' has been made in to a mockery by the
Sonia led UPA and the people of this country are simply watching the ugly
scenes without even realizing the forthcoming 'danger' that lies ahead
for the 'Constitution' of India which is going to be subjected to all sorts
of unholy and unethical changes by a plethora of amendments, soon after
Prathiba Patil takes over the mantle of Presidentship. May God save our
great Nation, out collapsing Constitution, and our shattered people.