User talk:Dr Dutta

Sonia: The Queen of Indian PoliticsItalic text

Edvige Antonia Albina Maino a name which perhaps so unfamiliar to most of the Indians. Perhaps eighty percent of the Indians don’t know who she is .Its none other but Mrs. Sonia Gandhi the Congress president and the UPA chairperson. Born in 9 December 1946 in Lusiana near Turin in Italy is today one of the most powerful politician of the world as per the Time Magazine world wide poll is concerned. When she was hardly eleven years old while entering a church in her hometown an Indian saint standing near the church door looking at her had said,”Oh! You are destined to be the queen of India” which seems to be so true as Sonia no doubt has emerged as the queen of Indian politics. Taking the helm of affairs of the Congress party after Sitaram Kesari’s demise the Congress under Sonia has come a long way .She has successfully rescued the Congress party from its coffin as Kesari’s tenure had almost ensured the natural death of the Congress. Emergence of the Kamandal Politics of the Sangh Parivar led BJP with the firebrand Ayodhya Ram movement and the Mandal politics of VP Singh had almost banished the Congress from the Indian political scene .It was in such a scenario that a reluctant Sonia was forced to take up the job of the President ship of the Congress. A docile timid housewife then was no match for the persona and aura of Vajpayee and the BJP led NDA came to power in the center with a thumping majority second time in 1998 and then again in 1999. But Sonia since then has come a long way. In 2004 Lok Sabha polls she ensured the defeat of Vajpayee government and managed to form the Congress led UPA government with like minded parties under the leadership of renowned and honest economist of the country Dr Man Mohan Singh. The UPA government has successfully completed its term though not without controversies and it bounced back to power with a huge mandate after my 16th 2009 under the able leadership of Sonia Gandhi

Sonia has shown remarkable leadership quality on many occasions. In 2004 when she could have been the Prime Minister of India she chose to make Dr Singh instead to make the NDA and the BJP lick dust when the BJP had started a tirade against her due to her foreign origin. The decision of hers and the golden silence, which she maintained against the NDA slander, was a political masterstroke. During the office of profit controversy again she out witted the opposition by resigning from her seat and re-contesting it winning with a landslide margin. In her home turf of Amethi –Rai Barielly and Sultanpur she has utilized all her energy and resources for developing the area as a developmental model zone. Traveling through it one can see well planned and maintained roads and rail links, airports, hospitals, new colleges, medical, engineering and MBA institutes, clean sanitation and drinking water and so on. Mrs Gandhi has been able to develop a personal bonding with the people of the area so much so that people have accepted the Nehru-Gandhi family as its very own thus ensuring the Gandhi-Nehru hold over it for decades to come. The BJP and the NDA cries foul labeling the present Prime Minister as weak and remote controlled. But the opposition has smartly forgotten that loyalty of the Prime Minister to the ruling party president is not weakness but strength and mutual respect for each other which is very much required for the smooth functioning of the government. Wasn’t not Vajpayee not loyal to the BJP or for that matter its remote control the RSS. Wasn’t not Vajpayee remote controlled by the RSS? A glaring example of it was seen during the Gujarat carnage when Vajpayee sheepishly looked on when the whole of Gujarat was burning. Today the BJP screams about the weak Prime Minister notion but smartly avoids attacking Sonia Gandhi or her foreign origin perhaps the BJP has learnt the true meaning of the proverb: “Once bitten twice shy”. This indirect acceptance of the BJP and the NDA and the lavish praises by other political parties and regional players of Sonia makes her the undisputed leader of India. The RJD, LJP, SP, TMC, NCP, AIADMK, DMK, PMK, MDMK, BJD, Karat and company all go an extra mile to praise Sonia to keep her in good humor though they might have problems with the Congress. During the nuclear deal controversy Sonia stood like a solid rock behind the Prime Minister almost risking the government again bears testimony to her leadership quality. It was again due to her personal initiative that several flagship programs of the UPA like the national rural guaranteed employment scheme, India vikas yojana, Jawar yojana, RTI etc were started.

Sonia is the guiding hand behind Rahul Gandhi in grooming him up as young politician with a farsighted vision for India. With a down to earth image with a excellent youth appeal. It is Sonia who has taught Rahul the real meaning of India: A India of the younger lot, a India of the farmers, laborers, down trodden, the Dalits, Tribals and the minorities .Coming from a iconic family if Rahul today shines like a young star, like a easily approachable young guy of the University its all due to the correct and motherly guidance of Sonia Gandhi who herself has a young vision for today’s India. She is a lady with lots of youthful energy, talent and youthful mind which is miles ahead of the myopic thinking of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar. All this was noticeable during the Lok Sabha speeches, Public rallies, Conferences abroad and so on. In her recent public meetings in Haryana and Maharashtra Sonia has shown that she has a dynamic vision for India which is accommodative for all. She has a concern for all and at the same time has shown her opponents that she is highly nationalistic bounded with tradition and culture but liberal and secular Sonia today has come a long way from that little girl of Turin or for that matter the docile Bahu of the Gandhi family. Her pan Indian acceptance, her global image, the awe and wonder of the different political parties and jealous zeal of the opposition make her the unchallenged politician of India. Perhaps in that sense the comment of that Indian saint of her childhood that one day she would be the queen of India seems to come true if not in any other sense at least in a political sense. '''Dr Suvrokamal Dutta (Renowned Media Personality and a Political Critic)'Italic text''

Beware India of the Chinese DragonItalic text
The Last couple of months have seen serious border dispute cropping up between India and China. With China making unrealistic and politically abnormal claims over Indian Territories. With the recent unpolished utterances of the Chinese foreign ministry China has crossed all civilized diplomatic limits. Without going much into the analysis of the recent border violation it is more important to look into its historical side.

Looking into the history of the Border dispute the McMohan Line, an imaginary border now known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC), separates the India-China border along Arunachal Pradesh. China has never recognized the 1914 McMahon Line and claims 90,000 sq km — nearly all of Arunachal Pradesh. India also accuses China of occupying 25,000 sq km in Kashmir.

Looking into the historical factors the whole of Arunachal border problem and the Aksai Chin in Jammu and Kashmir started after the Chinese Annexation of Tibet. Let us try to analysis certain historical evidences based on the Conversations of Pandit Nehru and the Chinese President of that time Zhou Enlai. Fifty years ago Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai paid three state visits to India in less than two months. It was the zenith of the brotherhood relationship. Premier Zhou was in India from November 28 to December 10, 1956, December 30 to January 3 and again from January 24 to 26, 1957. After the signing of the Panchsheel agreement in April 1954 Chinese Intrusion of Indian borders started with the first reported intrusion-taking place in Barahoti in July 1954.

Zhou who took the initiative to bring up the situation in Tibet. He gave a long briefing to the Indian PM on the historical status of the Land of Snows, while Nehru kept quiet about the intrusions. Zhou made some stray remarks on Tibet and the border, which are worth noting: "That Tibet is part of China is a fact, but it was never an administrative province of China but kept an autonomous character." Nehru replied: "My impression was that for all practical purposes Tibet has all along been autonomous”. Zhou spoke again about autonomy: "When we started negotiations for peaceful liberation of Tibet [in 1951 in Beijing], we from the first recognized the autonomous character of the region." Then he interestingly added: "When I said that India knew more about Tibet, I meant about the past history. For example, I knew nothing about McMahon Line until recently when we came to study the border problem after [the] liberation of China." Zhou had also then added Which seems quite surprising now as the present Chinese leadership refuses to accept the McMohan line (Line of Actual Control). The then Premier of China had added “Although this Line was never recognized by us, still apparently there was a secret pact between Britain and Tibet and it was announced at the time of the Simla Conference. And now that it is an accomplished fact, we should accept it. But we have not consulted Tibet so far." Where did the question of consulting Tibet arise as China had forcefully occupied Tibet in 1959?

The present Political leadership of India specially the ones in Central government should take all this historical factors into account while arguing forcefully with China on the border problems with China. Its time for the Indian government to follow a bold and firm policy towards China on the border issue.

India should not only claim back forcefully the areas of Aksai Chin in Jammu And Kashmir which China had occupied it in 1962 but should also claim back almost 25000 sq kms of territory on the other side of the Karakoram watershed in the Yarkhand areas on the other side of K2 peaks which originally belonged to the Princely state of Jammu and Kashmir but was quietly taken over by China in 1947-48.

It should also ask China to cede the 5000 Sq Kms of land in the Karakoram area which Pakistan had given to China after 1965 .At the same time Government of India should make it clear once for all that China should stop bargaining on its claim over Arunachal Pradesh.

As per the Vienna Convention of the law of Treaties of 1969 which is a international legal document a material breach of a bilateral or a multilateral treaty by one party entitles the other party to terminate a treaty .Under this clause if applied on the Indian context India can terminate the assurance which she gave to China on Tibet. If China can refuse to accept the Mac Mohan line India can do the same on Tibet. If the present Chinese leadership can ignore the acceptance of Zhou Enlai on the Mac Mohan line in 1957. So can the present leadership of India do the same on the question of Tibet? For this if required India should go back on its assurance of accepting Tibet as an autonomous part of China and declare the independent status of Tibet.

Secondly as per the Vienna Convention of the law of treaties of 1969 impossibility of performance of a treaty is also a valid ground for its termination. Article 61 of the Vienna convention says this. As per the impossibility performance test a treaty becomes invalid if one of the existing party shows or is incapable of implementing the treaty in practical circumstances. Since China has violated the Mac Mohan Treaty several times India taking the clause of Impossibility performance make claims on parts of Tibet around Kailash mountains as her own historically and culturally there by making Tibet disputed

At the same time India should raise up the question of ethnic cleansing in Tibet and Xinjiang at every international forum and also derecognize Xinjiang as a part of China and make it disputed since Xinjiang was a independent country till 1930s .After all in Diplomacy there is also a notion of tit for tat as well as the carrot and stick policy.

'''Suvrokamal Dutta

(The writer is renowned T.V personality, Foreign Affairs Expert and a Political Critic.)'Italic text''

Contact: Email: sk_dutta70@yahoo.co.in  Dutta007@hotmail.com)