The other day I saw a news video in a leading English Channel which had a girl telling about the way she was slapped by some hooligans in Bangalore. The caption that followed this story was something like this – ‘Bangalore Not Safe For Women?’. There were few more such incidents that were reported from Karnataka with a lot of passion from the National Channels/News Portals. Definitely all these incidents if they really happened need to be condemned but what I feel is that they shouldn’t be blown out of proportion for the simple fact that there are more attrocious incidents that keep on repeating through the length and breadth of the country. To just pick on one state just because there is a BJP Government in rule looks fishy.

What surprises me is that when I sneak into a Bangalore Group in Orkut that has about 80k members, none of these incidents seemed to be talked about. The mood over there doesn’t seem to be that anti-govermnent while there is a lot of hue and cry for even a ‘pin fall incident’ reported from Karnataka in e-groups such as the ‘Pink Chaddi Group’ in Facebook which feed on seemingly biassed reports from say NDTV and Times of India.  For me it looks as if some vested parties in the Centre and the Media are perhaps trying to make a fuss of everything that is happening in Karnataka.

In my own state Andhra Pradesh, there have been several incidents of acid attacks on college going girls. Unfortunately I don’t think I have seen Renuka Chowdhury, the Hon. Minister for Women and Child Welfare coming out on National TV to take a note of these serious issues happening in her own state which is under the Congress rule. Any intelligent person can clearly understand the double standards! So what I want to say is that there seems to be a section of biased media that is trying to magnify trivial things just for the sake of maligning the BJP and the rest of the Sangh Parivar and of course you have the Congress leaders trying to encash on every opportunity that comes their way. After all they need to as the millions of citizens will never forgive the UPA Government for the 60-odd bomb blasts and the Mumbai mayhem.

Here are a few points that clearly show double standards from a section of the Media and others:

1. Although the BJP has nothing to do with the Shri Ram Sene and Pramod Muthalik, a lot of people cleverly try to say that the Ram Sene is part of the Sangh Parivar and getting protected by the BJP. Instead of condeming the Ram Sene directly, they try to mud sling the BJP and most importantly the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) which was wrongly dragged into the Mangalore Pub attacks.
2. Take the instance of the abduction case of the daughter of a Kerala CPI MLA CH Kunhambu. The Media reported that she was kidnapped by Hindutva activists because she was traveling with a Muslim friend. A lot of noise came from all the quarters to say that Mangalore was getting Talibanized. It was later proved that the MLA’s own supporters belonging to the CPI’s student wing DYFI had done the abduction just to save the girl’s modesty. Even after the truth is out, this incident is still used in a lot of media articles as an example of ‘moral policing’ by Saffron Brigade carried out under full support of the BJP State Government!
3. The other case is that of the suicide of a minor girl called ‘Ashwini’ in South Karnataka. Despite the fact that the Police had arrested a person by the name Saleem, a 28-year-old on the grounds of sexually exploiting the girl, the blame just continues to be put on ‘Moral Policing’ by some Hindu activists and indirectly accusing that it is all because of the BJP Government being communal.
4. More than 100 people were arrested by the Bangalore Police recently in a liquor party that went till 4 AM in the morning. That party was illegal according to the Law of the Land and the Police on a tip off had arrested them. Now this incident is being projected as the Karnataka Government’s ‘Moral Policing’ by a section of the media.
5. Dr. VS Acharya, the Home Minister of Karnataka has asked for public opinion in his blog on whether the Police had done the right thing or not in arresting people who had participated in that illegal booze party. The post received more than 70 comments, quite a lot of them supporting the Police action and showing no sympathy to the boozers. Interestingly Times of India which has been branded as nothing but a ‘Page 3′ newspaper by its critics ran an article about that same VS Acharya Blog post in which it mentions only comments that were criticizing the Police just to create an image that the BJP Government is not functioning well.

We will have to wait and see how things develop in the coming days, there is just so much of action happening around. From the Mangalore Pub attacks to the latest Charlie Chaplin Statue Controversy, the state of Karnataka is being watched closely by the Witch hunters! Can the State Government over there come out clean? There is certainly a Witch Hunt in progress on the B.S. Yedyurappa Government and of course on the State Home Minister Dr. V.S. Acharya. I would say that the Karnataka Government needs to be strong like Narendra Modi in Gujarat and just ignore the mud slinging and just continue with its duties. Let’s see all that, but all of us know that with the elections coming up next month, there will be plenty of drama to be expected to put the BJP in a tight spot!

In an interview with Mumbai-based Mid Day, Muthalik did make some thought provoking comments. He says that he supports Nathuram Godse instead of Mahatma Gandhi as the latter was instrumental in aiding Pakistan by forcing the Indian Government to pay 55 Crores Rs. to Pakistan. Muthalik also says that his group Shri Ram Sene doesn’t have any relations with the BJP, a point that needs to be noted.

Muthalik goes onto say that the attacks on Churches in Mangalore were because of the malicious conversions hatched out by the missionaries. Disappointingly there were no questions asked by the interviewer related to Renuka Chowdhury and about the Pink Chaddi Campaign. Well anway here is the Interview of Pramod Muthalik.

Nirmala Venkatesh has said that she was deeply hurt by her removal and said that  it was a deep political conspiracy against her to tarnish her image. She said that she was being made a political victim. Well it is known that Nirmala Venkatesh’s report on the Pub attack didn’t add up the necessary fuel for Renuka Chowdhury to initiate a verbal attack on the BJP-led Karnataka State Government.

Interestingly the NCW website still has Nirmala Venkatesh as one of its members! The NCW led by Chairperson Dr. Girija Vyas presently consists of Yasmeen Abrar, Neeva Konwar, Manju Snehlata Hembrom and Wansuk Syiem.

In her findings regarding the Mangalore Pub incident, NCW member Nirmala Venkatesh had blamed the Amnesia Pub Owner for not providing security to the women guests and was keen to know whether the newly opened pub had a proper licence or not. Nirmala also went onto state that the girls were wearing skimpy and provocative dresses. She said that the victims were untraceable to get their version of the story.

Not happy with Nirmal Venkatesh’s report, Renuka Chowdhury put the pressure on the NCW to reject it as inadequate.  Renuka Chowdhury had later sent her own team to get a report how she wanted to show the BJP state government in Karnataka look as culprits. One of Renuka Chowdhury’s slogans was ‘Pub Bharo’ asking the females of the country to throng the various Pubs on the Valentine ‘s Day on February 14th.

Ladli Laxmi : This scheme is to discourage the conception that giving birth to a female is a burden. Here are the carrots from the Ladli Laxmi scheme :

• Every girl (registered before her first birthday) gets Rs. 2000 when she passes 5th Standard and gets Rs. 4000 if she goes onto pass the 7th standard. This encourages not only the birth rate of females but also increasing literacy.
• There is more encouragement for the girl to study further with the government paying her Rs.200 per month if she attends 9th Standard or 10th Standard.
• When the girl turns 21, she gets Rs. 1 lakh! The condition is that girl should not get married before the age of 18, should have studied till Class 12!

The Ladli Laxmi scheme is applicable to parents with only two children. So all in all, it looks like the BJP Government in Madhya Pradesh has taken care of Increasing Female Birth Rate, Education of Girls, Prevention of Minor Marriages and Population Control all wrapped up in one scheme! Now this is what you call as a scheme that helps the AAM AADMI.

Kanyadan Scheme : This scheme from the Government pays Rs.5000 for poor parents at the time of their daughter’s marriage. Organisations that conduct mass marriages for girls from poor families get a back-up of Rs.1000 per girl from the Government.

Madhya Pradesh apparently has a very low sex ratio of just 919 females to 1000 males and has been on a steady decline. The National average is 953 females to 1000 males.

The first statement of hers has offended many of the citizens of the country and not just Mangalore. For one stray incident, how fair is it to relate it to the brutal Taliban terrorists? Any part of India is very dear for its citizen, how dare a Minister take advantage of his/her position just for scoring some brownie points and go to the extent of using such derogatory terms?

The legal notice says that the Mangaloreans are peace loving citizens and that their city is rich in its cultural heritage. The legal counsel of the Mangalore Mayor, Mr. P.P. Hegde has filed this legal notice demanding for an apology from Renuka Chowdhury with a suitable public statement within three days from today. The legal notice concludes by saying that if she fails to comply to the demands, then a criminal case will be booked.

Renuka Chowdhury had found herself on the wrong side of the law when she was accused of beating up a traffic constable on duty in 1993. Renuka was a Telugu Desam Party M.P at that time and was driving a car which was stopped by a Head Constable as the road she was trying to go by was closed due to security reasons related to the Prime Minister’s Convoy. An angry Renuka had got down and had ‘kicked and slapped’ the Head Constable Janaki Ram according to the FIR registered at that time.

So what does she say in that community which has gathered over 1000 members? To begin with she says ‘Yesterday it was Mangalore
Today it is Bhopal, Uttar Pradesh
Tomorrow where?’

So what do you folks make out of it? She mentions Mangalore which is in Karnataka under BJP Government, second is Bhopal which is in Madhya Pradesh also under BJP Govt and Uttar Pradesh which is also Anti-Congress government with Mayawati as the CM. How conveniently she has missed out all the atrocities on women in Delhi and the public molestation case in Mumbai which has not been solved since two years. Both Delhi and Mumbai come under Congress Governments! Isn’t this clear double standards?? And no mention of her own state Andhra Pradesh where a foreign woman – Taslima Nasreen was physically attacked by the MIM party people and yet there was no hue and cry from Renuka Chowdhury, our honourable Union Minister for Women and Child Development.

Renuka Chowdhury has been over enthusiastic in lambasting the BJP Government of failing in Law and Order and claming that the Shri Ram Sene activists had dragged out a Kerala MLA’s daughter who was traveling along with a Muslim boy. The B. S. Yeddyurappa government did its work and arrested the culprits who were apparently from the CPM, the ally of Congress-I! What is all this drama going on? Why are you so biased against any BJP state governments? When a lot of crime on women is happening in New Delhi, our National Capital, what are you doing to ensure 0% crime? Its happening right under your nose isn’t it? Can anybody say that Noida is safe for women to walk around in the night time?

Coming to the Mangalore incident, the State government there is doing its work according to the law; don’t try to scream without any valid reason! For a small incident you call it as ‘Karnataka is getting Talibanised’ which is very very harsh. Some of the news channels keep on saying the Saffron brigade is behaving like Talibans, they keep on repeating Shri Ram Sene numerous times without understanding that they are hurting the religious sentiments of the Hindu majority in the country. Nobody is happy with the way the so-called Ram Sene activists had beaten boys or girls in that pub. The BJP has condemned it; and so did the RSS which also said that it has nothing to do with Shri Ram Sene led by some Pramod Muthalik. There are lots of people thinking that it is a conspiracy from the Congress just before the elections to divert from the main issue of national security and probably malign ‘Hinduism’? There is another rumour that there are some Jihadi Romeos who are taking advantage of gullible Hindu women. Well we never said that India is getting Pakistanised when every week there was a bomb blast in different cities!

Now coming back to the Pub Bharo thing, a majority of Indian youngsters don’t have the money to bunk their colleges and fill up the Pubs! May be some of the high society girls could come on your (Renuka Chowdhury’s) call but think about the average girl, would her mother allow her daughter to go to the Pub??? I think public opinion is clearly visible in this issue, with most of them heavily criticizing what an irresponsible statement this ‘Pub Bharo’ is from a Central Minister who is supposed to be a role model for all of us. Make no mistake about this, people are against the rowdy acts from the Ram Sene and the law will take its course like in any case. Please don’t overact!

A number of Eunuchs get their make-ups done and hit the roads as early as 9 AM to prey on their victims. If its not your day then you might come under their attack from any direction! Especially the Himayat Nagar main road has become a dangerous zone for common public, in particular the young boys and girls who are inexperienced in dealing with these kind of rogues. One has got to be very alert from keeping away a distance from the approaching army of Hijras.

If you are somewhere in Himayat Nagar on your bike, then better turn back and see if there’s anyone likely to approach you and also left, right and straight to stay away from the possible harassment from these Eunuchs. Be very alert if you have a little kid with you, the best thing is to get inside some shop straightaway! Mind you, there could always be the possibilities of the Eunuchs even pulling out a knife to stab a person not yielding to their demands, they may not be backing away from creating any sort of physical damage to the victim, so it does make the entire episode very scary. Renuka Chowdharyji can you do something for the young women if not men who are becoming victims to this menace? This is not the ‘Talibisation’ that interests you but the ‘Eunuchisation’ happening in our AP State that is not filmed by our alert Electronic Media.

There is also a similar problem during train journeys in Andhra Pradesh. All of a sudden you have a bunch of Eunuchs entering the train and troubling the passengers. They first molest any young man and then demand money at the face. I was in the middle of a nice nap in a train at about 6 or 7 in the morning when a eunuch had come to wake me up in a disgusting manner. The moment I opened my eyes I had to see the horrifying face, something nobody wants to when they just wake up! As I had a laptop worth 50k with me, I thought it was better to shell down the money for safety.

This is an ever growing menace unless it is arrested. There was some sort of a welfare done for Eunuchs during the TDP regime, or atleast promised. I hope that the YSR government does treat this as an issue. I know they have no vote bank among the eunuchs who can’t vote but think about the common man on the street who is getting troubled by them. People would like you to do something Sir, we would love to see an ‘Indiramma Padhakam for Eunuchs’ or even on the name of our great Rajiv Gandhi. May be a 5-paise vaddi scheme for the eunuchs could do something positive for the society, please think over!