Amandeep Hindustani

All polls national and international peg the BJP winning - by how much we don't know yet. Just watched Modi in Varanasi with perhaps up to half a million people. The Congress didn't show up and the AAP didn't have the money to hold a rally. haha..

No worries, thousands of pigs have been sent to Allah over the last few years in retaliation. Please stick to your internet khalistani songs to raise your spirits...heh

The Chinese government mouth piece The Peoples Daily has written some good things about Modi and are looking forward to working with him. I wonder if all those incursions over the last year were designed to make Manmohan Singh look like an idiot and pave the way for Modi. Mr. Badal does not have an excuse anymore and cannot say "The central government does not help Punjab" anymore because his friend and protege Mr. Modi is at the helm. Amit Shah, Modi etc.. demanded and got major changes in Bihar and Gujarat. The bribes, goonda gardi, red tape, dissapeared overnight. Will he demand the same from Badal? But this Gujju skillfully dismantled the Congress. Its fun to watch.

I'm bored brother. This is becoming tiresome about modi being the third anti-christ. Its over so suck it up along with his haters outside. The people of india have spoken and that's what matters. Pandering to islamists, leftists, communists, maoists and the ilk is not what modi does. Fareed Zakaria says this about Modi " Charismatic, intense and utterly decisive" The utter destruction of the Congress piece by piece is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo satisfying....and so is the stories of the americans, europeans, chinese etc.. already sending representatives and feelers to get on his good side....hahaahah.. Many people dont know this but Narendra Modi was also the finance minister for the state of Bihar while doing the same for Gujarat. Result? He turned them both into economic powerhouses. And yes, the mass modernization of the IA, security and intelligence agencies is also imminent. So watch out desh drohis..

You are correct. The cracks are starting to show. Now, it all depends on how much pressure the people of punjab are going to put on the badal family. The Badals may squeak through this time but they are dead meat come state elections in 2017 unless something drastic happens.

The unexpected surge of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab is an outcome of the disheartening disconnect between the politics of elites and the grassroots reality. In the ensuing vacuum AAP has stepped in, riding the desperation of a people forever in search of light in the darkness enveloping the state for well over two decades. The momentum AAP had achieved will see it not only register a high percentage of votes but also win a few seats. Earlier, the militant’s gun was the symbol of Punjab’s darkness. Today, it is the young man’s favourite hit – smack or heroin or opium or ice – that has become emblematic of its misery. Punjab has veritably become the land of dope-heads and mainliners. Hear this: a 2011 survey by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment concluded that 40 per cent of those in the age group of 15-25 years in the state are addicts, as are 48 per cent of farmers and agricultural labour. AFP The survey has its critics for the methodology it employed. But you have to speak to social activists, academicians, police officers, and rural folks and they will tell you, in voices quivering with rage, the surreal nature of democratic politics in the land of drug addicts. Sukhbir Singh, of Valtoha block, Tarn Taran, runs the Baba Inder Singh Memoral Sports Club, but doesn’t have boys scrambling to avail of the facilities he offers. Seventy-five per cent of Valtoha’s boys have crossed the Line of Dependency, desperately in need of a daily fix. Sukhbir and his friends have held marches, petitioned the authorities, submitted a memorandum demanding a crackdown on drug pushers. Nothing happened. Then Sukhbir decided to welcome AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal on his roadshow in the area early in March. The news of it had an MLA scurrying over to his house. Over the phone, Sukhbir told me, “The MLA asked me, why are you doing this? What do you want? I told him I’m interested in saving the youth.” Over the weeks, the wind in favour of AAP has become Punjab’s new political intoxicant, to the extent that as its leader, Yogendra Yadav, cut a swathe through the state last week, he would ask people at various stops: “Who’s behind the drug racket?” The audience would scream the name of a powerful minister, who is popularly considered the patron of the drug racket. This anger was simmering even in the 2012 assembly elections, but the BJP-Akali Dal managed the elections better than the Congress to forge ahead by 1.77 per cent more votes, despite the alliance witnessing a sharp decline of 5.29 per cent from its 2007 vote-share. The anger stemmed then seems to have bubbled over now. The hard-to-define hope AAP holds out in the misery sweeping the ‘land of plenty’ is the inspiration behind the catchy slogan that has become extremely popular: “Na bhukki ko, na daaru ko, vote denge jhaddu ko.” (Bhukki is the local name for opium husk.) AAP has become the beacon of hope because people know it isn’t in the interest of the existing political class to stem the supply of narcotics, says former police officer Shashi Kant, who as additional director-general of Intelligence fought the drug cartel. In 2007, Kant submitted a list of the powerful – politicians, police officers, even NGOs – entangled in the clandestine narcotics business to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. No action was taken, in complete disdain of the public knowledge that powerful politicians control the drug-trade. In this ambience of deliberate inaction, AAP’s astonishing performance in the Delhi Assembly election stirred the beleaguered state. What also inspired its people is the AAP government’s crackdown on corruption and its decision to institute the SIT probe in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. For those accustomed to the betrayal of the political class, AAP appeared an outfit willing to walk the talk. Thus, the state which has had much of its history influenced by invasions from the north-west turned, for a change, to look south-east – Delhi – for determining its fate. “The state is on the path of revolution,” says Kant, who too joined AAP but is now nonplussed at the party’s reluctance to press him into the campaign built, to an extent, on the rampant drug abuse. “The party had no structure here. It has been erected overnight on the shoulders of young men who have persuaded their family elders to rally behind AAP. Even their candidates are not known.” A few people I spoke to echo Kant, but did not wish to be named, fearing retaliation from the Akali Dal or the Congress. But Jitender Singh Bitta, a Living Media journalist in Amritsar, distils the AAP effect into one simple line: “Kejriwal has shown to the people that anything can be done, and everything is possible.” Does Bitta’s “anything can be done” include merely the eradication of narcotics from Punjab? Absolutely not, for substance abuse is also the symbol of Punjab’s economic slide, falling agriculture yield, rising unemployment, rampant corruption, the collapse of the government education and healthcare systems, and, beyond anything else, the crippling of the robust, optimistic Punjabi spirit, celebrated over the decades. Social scientists differ over the precise provenance of drug abuse. On one aspect, though, they all agree – consumption of narcotics was a tradition in the state, and considered respectable. For the rich, opium was the preferred indulgence; for the poor, it was poppy husk, crushed and mingled with tea. The consumption received a fillip as the Green Revolution turned the state remarkably prosperous in the Seventies. It prompted drug cartels to push the contraband through the route used for smuggling gold. Over the years, the price for gold stabilized, and its smuggling was no longer lucrative, and drugs replaced the yellow metal as the principal commodity for generating illegitimate wealth. Other developments, too, brought a spurt in the supply of drugs. For one, narcotics became an important mode for financing militancy. But a portion of the drugs brought into Punjab, says Kant, earmarked for Delhi and, ultimately, the West, was diverted to satiate the local demand. Militancy was rooted out, but not the smuggling of drugs, over which the politicians and the police, granted extraordinary powers to fight terrorism, gained control. Harish Puri, who retired as professor from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, prefers a socio-economic perspective to analyse the drug menace. He says the abuse is rampant in what is called the Malwa area of the state, notorious for its economic inequality – here the landlords, historically, owned sprawling estates, on which lower caste farmers worked as tenants. The Green Revolution enhanced the prosperity of the landlords, mostly living in towns and cities. Conspicuous consumption became a subculture, the use of drugs one of its manifestations. In contrast, the lower castes didn’t get their appropriate share in the rising profits from agriculture. At the height of terrorism, Puri conducted a study of 28 villages, and found the level of education among them abysmal. Drugs and guns became their tools to overcome their deplorable condition, more so as they were virtually unemployable in other sectors. Ironically, the Seventies and Eighties saw lower castes, or mazhabi Sikhs, flock to village schools, from which upper castes began to withdraw, considering studying with lower castes below their dignity. Since the upper castes dominated village panchayats, schools were deprived of resources – and, therefore, ensued the collapse of the education system. Over the next two decades, the diminishing returns from the Green Revolution, too, set in. The agricultural growth rate in Punjab has slowed down from 5 per cent in the 1980s to 1.9 per cent in the 2000s. Worse, a 2008 study conducted by Prof HS Shergill, of the Institute for Development and Communication, Chandigarh, shows indebtedness has risen from 68 per cent in 1997 to 84 per cent in 2008, of which 17 per cent are in a debt trap, unable to pay even the interest. An official study found 42 per cent of groundwater in the state has saline and sodic elements, unfit for drinking or irrigation. Sixty per cent of Malwa’s water source is contaminated. Declining productivity impacts the tenant farmer severely, less so the landlords, who are anyway selling land and making a killing. Nevertheless, both are indulging in substance abuse: the neo-rich because they have enormous surplus cash in hand, the poor farmers because it makes the circle of hopelessness in which they are trapped tolerable. Says Puri, with a dash of dark humour, “In Punjab, one section of the youth is waiting for visas, the other for their next fix.” Puri says people are reacting to their experience and gravitating towards AAP, as both the Congress and the Akali Dal-BJP are held responsible for the state’s woes. He, however, adds caveats, “There is tremendous goodwill for the party. But can it turn this goodwill into votes? Does it have the experience to manage booths? Also, I would want the AAP to spell out its policy framework.” Nevertheless, against this backdrop, it is bewildering to find the media obsessed with the cat-fight in Punjab, for instance reporting the daily pot-shots that Capt Amrinder Singh and Arun Jaitley take at each other. It underscores the banality of mainstream political discourse in a state slipping deeply into the mire of misery. After such knowledge, what meaning can politics have for the people? But to hope is to also retain your humanity, a subtext behind the surge of AAP in Punjab. (The author is a Delhi-based journalist and can be reached at ashrafajaz3@gmail.com) http://www.firstpost.com/politics/jhadu-wave-sweeps-punjab-why-akali-dal-will-save-aap-1500973.html

I highly doubt people would vote for just any party to get rid of the Badals. If so, they would have done with Manpreet Badals party, or others. Obviously, there is something about Arvind that people seem to gravitate towards. The Badals will win but the margin is starting to become slimmer and slimmer. But regardless, even if the AAP squeak out a few seats then the badals will have a hard time. Arvind is going to take the problems of the sikhs and punjab nationally and internationally. Also, I see a growing vocal hindu minority that is increasingly supporting the right of the sikhs to get justice for 84. The retards that take money to vote need to be " outvoted" to prevent stupidity for taking over again. Meaning if they are 100 you need to bring 300

The election is almost over and the results will be announced on May 16, 2014. Just some quick points. Feel free to post your news, analysis, opinion on this thread. My points: The Badal family is nearing its end. Speaking to relatives in Punjab even Akalis themselves are voting for AAP party. The "invincible" Congress party is dying before our eyes. And perhaps that is what its fate would be after all the crimes they have committed in this country. Respected Dr. and AAP candidate Dr. Dharmaveer Gandhi attacked and seriously hurt in Patiala (??) a seat he was expected to win. Bhagwant Mann may be the future CM of Punjab? Maybe not this year but in the future. Akalis beat up AAP and Congress candidates And we are seeing the rise of another gandhi type figure in Indian history (Kejriwal) right before our eyes. Even though its early in his career we are watching history unfold before our eyes. The NRIs have played a crucial role in the rise of the AAP with people calling home and telling their relatives to vote AAP

The moslem actors are at the top by design. They are moslem but highly hinduised. Perfect instrument to beam into paki and moslem homes. Ching Ching... Its gold when shahrukh takes the koran and puts it at the feet of durga..hahaaha But I do see a trend of moslem actresses making their way into bollywood as well. And whats with every major hindu actor taking a moslem wife or girlfriend these days? Dunno whats going on there...

True. Hopefully, there will be development in these rural areas because that alone will cool down tensions.

You know you could be proud of your tribe, race, colour, caste, lineage. religion but still be non-oppressive towards others. Millions of people do it. I never blamed the "victims" but said that if hinduism cannot learn to treat these people well like I am seeing in this documentary then why cry when these people move onto other religions. Hindu society needs to change. This "chalta hai" attitude towards these poor people is disgusting. And that stupid fat baman with the sunglasses that keeps on popping up in the documentary needs a beat down.

Ah...no. I never ever said sikhs deserved 84 massacre. I think you have the ability to check all the posts that I have made and perhaps cite some? On the contrary I have repeatedly said both sides should fess up to whatever they did, take the neccessary action to make sure it does not happen again.

Part 2 - has a section about sikhism and caste. Starts at 24.30 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If2Vad5NjD8

So is the caste system unjust or the way its practiced (by birth) We all know the story of Valmiki who was a robber that strangled people and ate them. He was a shudra (outcaste) for his deeds. The only words he knew were "mar mar" which mean roughly "kill kill" until he was instructed to reverse those two words into "raam naam" or "ram ram" and he eventually became a saint, wrote the ramayan and occupies a special place in hinduism.

The Brahmin (correct word) has no presence in the Punjab, or does he behind the scenes? And please don't bring the line "If we converted to sikhism or buddhism then everything would ok because both religions outlaw casteism" Not so, I can find very few teachings from sikhism or buddhism that say casteism should be destroyed or eliminated. Instead, I find the founders of both religions repeatedly refer to caste, and say that deeds determine caste not birth. Meaning there is caste and people can go and up down based on their deeds. To Sundarika Bhâradvâja, the brahmin who inquired about his lineage, the Buddha answered: "No Brahmin I, no prince, No farmer, or aught else. All worldly ranks I know, But knowing go my way as simply nobody: Homeless, in pilgrim garb, With shaven crown, I go my way alone, serene. To ask my birth is vain."n41 On one occasion a caste-ridden brahmin insulted the Buddha saying. "Stop, thou shaveling! Stop, thou outcast!" The Master, without any feeling of indignation, gently replied: "Birth makes not a man an outcast, Birth makes not a man a brahmin; Action makes a man an outcast, Action makes a man a brahmin." (Sutta-nipâta, 142)

Calling Brahmins as traitors is extremely biased. Some of the big shots from history were Brahmin - The Maratha Peshwa Sardars that conquored South, Central India and then planted the flag of hinduism in Northern India while decimating muslim powers in the region were brahmins. As was Laxmi Bhai, Chandershekhar Azad, RajGuru, Sukhdev, Chankaya, Parmeshwar Dutt and others. How about Raja Dahir? It also ignores their contribution to science, philosophy, politics, mathematics, language, business, poetry which is unparalleled for a community that is so small. People like yourselves are still eating from this work and perhaps you dont even know it. Every major movement in Indian history, you can name it , was ordered by or led by brahmins. Bhakti movement, freedom fights, maoists, communists, naxalites, RSS, Arya Samaj, Brahmo Samaj and perhaps even sikhism itself.

Yes, if this is how dalits are treated then definately they have a full right to leave hinduism. I will not oppose it. Maybe, I said it incorrectly. Perhaps that will be a wake up call for the elitist at the top to change their ways. The question is not about Dalits alone - even they are subdividing themselves according to the documentary. It seems to be much worst in the rural areas. The documentary also visits punjab and talks to the Valmikis and takes a brief look at reservations and quotas.

A must watch documentary on the caste system. It is absolutely sickening from what I just watched. And even though I am a strict hindu and brahmin, if this is the treatment of metted out to Dalits then they should leave hinduism immediately. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM85zVt6xCU Sorry, the adding of the link did not work for me.

But I believe the IG purposely pushed the sikhs into violence because it would be an easier sell to the people especially during election time. The IG feared the non-violent movement (morchas, dharnas, rallies) because there is nothing you could do about. it. You could not ask the PP to open fire on a non-violent movment even the people of india would not support that. Its no wonder OB was committed a few days before a massive non-violent morcha. But because sikhs had immature leaders they fell for it hook line and sinker. However, the movement may not be entirely religious in nature there were major economic factors that made the youth angry in the first place including massive unemployment.

Shri Krishna, Shri Ram, Shri Guru Gobind Singhji Maharaj did it on the battlefield. Man to Man. A Chinese visitor to India nearly 2000 years ago talks of opposing groups or armies fighting on the battlefield but the farmer nearby continues to till the land without fear. Bomb blasts, assassinations, extortion, threats, random killings are NOT what Guru Gobind Singhji or Shri Krishna had in mind when they spoke those words.

Ah..those pesky bamans are at it again. 5 indians nominated for title of "the worlds most important thinker" and all are bamans. damn this little 3 percent community... http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/5-Indians-in-the-running-for-top-world-thinkers/articleshow/32809998.cms LONDON: Five Indians — of which four are economists — are in the running for the title of "the world's most important thinker 2014" as part of an annual global poll taking place for the past 10 years. The Prospect magazine has been inviting the public to vote on its list of influential thinkers since 2004 when it drew up a list of the top 100 British public intellectuals. In 2005, they extended the search to the rest of the globe and readers voted online. The 2014 list has four Indian economists — Amartya Sen, Kaushik Basu, Partha Dasgupta and Raghuram Rajan. The only other entry from India is writer and Booker prize winner Arundhati Roy. Last year's winner, the author of 'The God Delusion' — Richard Dawkings has failed to make it on to the magazine's 2014 list. The other heavyweights in contention are Pope Francis — the only religious leader to make it to the annual list — American philosopher Thomas Nagel, responsible for some of the most important contributions to the philosophy of mind in the 21st century and international lawyer and political scientist Anne-Marie Slaughter who is former director of policy planning at the US state department and former professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University. The list also includes South African businessman Elon Musk — co-founder of the online payments service PayPal and now heads two companies: Space X, which from 2015 will be running flights to and from the International Space Station under a $1.6bn contract from Nasa, and Tesla Motors, which is developing affordable electric cars. Myanmar historian Thant Myint-U, now a member of Myanmar's National Economic and Social Advisory Council is also in the running for the award. He one of the president's special advisors on the peace process.

Slippery slope argument. I bet if you took the view of the security forces, government, police they would say the same thing. And it would look something like this" |I have a question for you. If the sikh leadership is not helping, local gurudwaras are not helping, atrocities against moderate sikhs, hindus, sects, migrants are increasing. How would you stop that? Once you start the spiral of violence then anything can happen, and usually does.

Hanuman may or may not be a monkey, or probably was a local adivasi chieftain with negroid features but was transformed over the years based on different writers and image makers. Perhaps you can learn from him to be true to your guru and follow his hukam. But I wouldnt expect peasants with no history and no business in running a religion to understand. Sikhism was handed to people like you by default. And we see the result. Beutiful sublime thoughts and ideas turned to crude ramblings catering to the basic instinct. Anycase, back to the article. The author attacks Brahminism which is no problem with me. But fails to appreciate that its been probably the brahmins that are the forefront in trying to erase the dreaded caste system. Nor does it mention that many of scriptures that brahmins worship and revere today are from the so called "lower castes". I cant believe the sheran de kaum is so scared of a small minority (3 percent)

Never claimed to be sikh my internet khalistani friend. But I believe your the same guy that holds "meetings" in your basement with other 16 year olds to decide the future of the panth. BTW, I like your avatar picture but I believe that gentlemen was popped.