What Kind of a President is Pratibha Patil?

“Shouldn’t a President be entitled to even 260,000-square-feet post-retirement home (including building and fenced land)?” This was a poser from President Pratibha Patil’s son Rajendra Shekhawat, when asked about the heat that the issue has generated. Pratibha is not new to scandals and has been involved in many even before she became President. This includes the bankruptcy of a bank

Incidentally, unaccounted cash of Rs 1 crore meant for Shekhawat, Congress MLA, was seized earlier this year

The home for greedy Pratibha is being developed in a defence area where soldiers have been denied even the bare necessity of family housing. Pratibha was recommended for Presidency by Sonia Gandhi – believed to be a loyalty reward.

Land meant for Military Use Only: It has also emerged that the land is meant purely for military use. So the claim of the Presidential Office that no rules have been bent is very hollow. The following link should give you additional details on this fraud — http://www.moneylife.in/article/pratibha-patils-house-stands-on-a1-defence-land-meant-only-for-military-use-military-spending-its-resources-for-her/24960.html 

One bungalow in the area has already been demolished and another is being renovated. The cost of the renovation alone is estimated to be Rs 8 crore (US1.5 million).

Well, this is pathetic India! A decent bungalow occupying a space that is 100 times smaller will still offer her luxurious living.

The home will go back to Defence after Pratibha’s death. But why should impoverished India be saddled with the liability of maintaining this extravagance during her lifetime?

Former Singapore President S R Nathan, who demitted office last year, lives in his own modest two-storey house. Past Singapore Presidents, too, lived alike. In fact, even during his Presidency, Nathan lived only in his own house and not in the sprawling Istana, Singapore’s equivalent of the Rashtrapathi Bhavan.

Scandals Involving Pratibha

Here is a look at the kind of President India has had since 2007 when Pratibha assumed the office, thanks to the Congress party. What a poor replacement for missile man Dr Abdul Kalam, who is respected worldwide.

1. Pratibha Patil’s brother G N Patil had been charged with murdering a politician whose professor wife then accused Pratibha Patil of shielding the killer.
2. Pratibha has spent Rs 205 crores on lavish overseas travels during her Presidency so far. This is the highest for any President.

The following are a few other extracts from IBN Live — http://ibnlive.in.com/news/president-pratibha-patils-brush-with-controversy/248154-3.html

1.  Bank Insolvency: A women cooperative bank became insolvent after loan waiver to family members and relatives of Pratibha Patil. The bank was set up by Pratibha Patil in 1973 and in 2003 the RBI served the closure notice due to insolvency.
2. Cooperative Shut Down: A sugar cooperative was shut down for defaulting with bank loans to the tune of Rs 17.3 crore. Pratibha Patil was the Chairperson and director till she became the governor of Rajasthan.
3. Lease of Land: Before Pratibha Patil became President, the Congress-led Maharashtra government leased out 25,000 square feet of prime land in Amravati to her husband’s education society and agreed to build a sports complex on it. It was believed to be against the rules of allocation.

How long will Indians continue to tolerate corrupt, inefficient and greedy leaders? I wish the vernacular newspapers and TV channels in India take the frauds to the masses and make them revolt against these frauds and throw those behind out.

G Joslin Vethakumar

India Overreacting to Immigration Check on Shah Rukh in U.S.

Bollywood stars have for ages had close ties with the mafia, some of whom (Dawood Ibrahim, for instance) are known to be funding terrorism. This is very well documented and even WikiLeaks papers last year pointed to Bollywood’s links with the underworld.

So the U.S. has every right to subject them, even if it is megastar Shah Rukh Khan, to additional scrutiny by immigration officials.

So India is over-reacting to the recent checks on Shah Rukh in the U.S. The U.S. has generously apologised for it in response to protests from India. It didn’t have to!

Yet another diversionary and populist tactic to hide behind when faced with all kinds of problems at home – corruption, Defence mess, kidnapping and what not!

Our leaders stay tight-lipped even when faced with serious issues. But when a film celebrity is involved in a non-issue such as this, they rush into action. Filmi politics! Even when former President Dr Abdul Kalam was frisked in the U.S. he did not get perturbed.

Actors cannot expect special privileges when they travel overseas, particularly when it involves keeping a nature secure and free from terrorism.

India may choose to be lax with security, which is why it has not been able to get rid of terrorism in the country. On the contrary, one 9/11 is all it took the U.S. to clamp down on terrorism. The country has been safe from terrorist attack since then.

India has no business to meddle with the security measures of other countries!

G Joslin Vethakumar

Oh Bengal! Becoming a China Without Communism?

Mamata does not tolerate criticism. But how do people put up with her?

Communism and freedom of expression do not go together. Worldwide! Only in India communists are able to exercise their right to speak – nonsense or otherwise. So it goes for functionaries in non-governmental organisations (NGO). I often think they together have an agenda to scuttle the country’s development.

But I digress? Not really!

West Bengal had been run by Communists for long. Now in the grip of local leader Mamata Banerjee, intolerance for criticism has begun to haunt the State. This is a typical Communist trait.

But then Bengalis have always considered themselves to be a part of the intelligentsia! So it beats me how an arrogant, self-centred local leader is able to sway the masses in the State! But who said the intelligent think beyond themselves?

Mamata talks nonsense when poor kids die in hospitals because of poor care, when crimes against women are surging or when a railway minister from her party proposes a fare hike in the Budget (ostensibly because she was not consulted).

How, oh, how, Kolkatta and Bengal!! She is bringing you a bad name!

Now a professor has been bashed up and arrested simply because of a cartoon that Mamata did not take kindly to.

She is intolerant of criticism, maybe even complex-prone. How do the people of her State tolerate her? When local parties come to power, the Jayalalithas and the Karunanidhis expect the people to fall at their feet while they rip the States apart.

She appears to be making West Bengal a China without being a Communist. Ha, ha ha!

G Joslin Vethakumar