War against Terror!!! How?

As it is known that the terrorists came from Pakistan/ were trained in Pakistan/ were financed from Pakistan/ have any connection with Pakistan then an ACTION has to be taken. I personally strongly want the government to, in various ways, take steps to stop the perpetration of terrorism from Pakistan.

We have to take a pledge that the Mumbai terror attack should be the last.

What are the possible options? Is war an only option? If yes then it kills innocent people. And have we given a thought to the fact that both the countries are equipped with Nuclear weapons? Selected strike on the terror camps is another option but if Pakistan doesn’t allow us then?

Is their only a diplomatic way left then? Only pressure should be used? Should the international community take the final call against Pakistan under the leadership of United Nations?

Will cutting or reducing all relationships be it commercial, cultural, sports, etc. stop or reduce terrorism in any way? How wise is banning of Pakistani artists from coming to India?

Are we going to achieve anything by calling back our High Commissions and shutting down Indian missions in Pakistan? Will cutting all diplomatic relationships lead to Pakistan taking any actions?

Post Parliament attack I have noticed that every time there is a heated discussion between the two nations a particular suggestion always pops up i.e. Scrapping the Indus water treaty. Again after Mumbai terror attack this option is very very much available to us to suppress Pakistan. Even a percent cut in the water supply will leave 1.4 million thirsty in Pakistan. But what about the excess water that would be blocked in our land. We don’t have any mechanism to hold this extra stock of water. Still the question remains whether India should demand to scrap or re nogitate Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan by virtue of which Pakistan gets its supply of water from Indian soil.

Would any of these steps make Pakistan put a stop to the terror breeding spots? How do we make Pakistan comprehend that Terroirsm is detrimental to both the nations equally?

I would like to know your opinion as to how to go on a war against terrorism?



Regards
Sanjay Nirupam

Constructive use of the anger, fury, rage……That should be the outlook now.

I have noticed in various media channels- news channels, newspapers, radio internet…that the faith in the leaders of the country has vanished.

First, First, First

I appreciate your anger, I understand your frustration, and I congratulate you to now be awake. [as some people put it]. Till the society, the common man accepts the status quo or the exploitation by politician, [a few exceptions I would mention though], politicians will continue to do so. But if the society agitates then it makes a difference.


Lighting candles, gathering at Gateway of India and shouting slogans, wearing black or white, writing aggressive status messages on networking sites like facebook, orkut, gtalk is off course an appropriate way to express the anger of the society. It shows that still our society is live, full of vigor and awake unlike the power hungry politicians.

If you think this will decrease the level of corruption and increase the level of accountability and the competency of the political class please go ahead with it.

BUT BUT BUT,

If you think these are ways of expressing your emotions of all kind but is not really going to make any difference in the country then please read ahead.

Like I said I appreciate your anger I also ask you today to use it in a constructive manner.

Don’t blame the system from outside, become a part of it. I am not asking you to leave your jobs, stop living your normal lives, without doing so you can be a part of it.

Our system needs intelligent, creative and vigorous people like you. You can do a lot more – action speaks louder than words.

If any of the above made sense to you then respond. I’ll guide as to how you can do your bit to strengthen our democracy and make the political class more responsible and accountable. So that we all live in a secure, developed and prosperous environment.

Regards
Sanjay Nirupam

Don’t Just Blame the system, be a part of it now. Sterilize it. Sanitize it.

I know Condemning it is not enough

It is not just a terror attack. What happened in Mumbai on 26th Noveber 2008 is an attack on the country’s democracy, sovereignty, integrity and also an assault on every peace loving citizen of our country.

I condemn this cowardly and destructive act.

Before I write more on what we need to do, I would like to mention a few things. The terrorists entered India through the water front – the sea route. I don’t intend to start a blame game and pass the buck on to someone else. But technically the security aspect of the sea route comes under the naval system- Marine police, coast guard and Indian Navy.

Also the state government had some information or inputs on Mumbai being a target but there were no precise inputs. Mumbai as a city has always been targeted by terrorists for which the state Government was always concerned.

It is high time that our intelligence network, security agencies and police constabulary are made well equipped. High standards of security needs to maintained so as to be capable of facing global terrorism . Improved technology, upgraded systems, high quality ammunition should now be provided to our security men. Not just this but a lot of other actions will have to be taken.

Dear friends and citizens of Mumbai I feel hurt too. I share the same grief as you do. And I pray for strength within all of us.

We have lost around 200 lives but I salute our NSG commandos, Mumbai Police and our Marcos.

And hence we are organizing a condolence meeting tomorrow – Sunday November 30, 2008 – at 10 a.m. in Tilak Bhavan, Dadar. I ask you to join us. I understand this is no compensation but it could be one way for us to show gratitude to those bold and courageous men of our country who lost their lives to protect us.

With a heavy heart,
Sanjay Nirupam

Let us not blame the whole religion for an act of an individual

Arrest of Sadhvi Pragya in Malegaon bomb blast of 29th Sept. is a watershed moment of Indian socio-political life.

Hindu ideologues will have to redefine their ideas of patriotism where in the name of hardcore nationalism sheer hatred has been spread against other religious communities. Also after each terrorist attack BJP will have to think twice before dragging any specific community in it.

Terrorism does not have a religion and terrorist don’t belong to any community .It is a fact. But Sangh Pariwar never agreed to this. Rather they always engaged themselves in running a campaign that- ‘All the Muslims are not terrorists but why it is so that all the terrorists are found to be Muslims?’

Now the fact is Mumbai ATS has arrested 11 people in the context of Malegaon blast conspiracy. All of them are Hindu. What would be the argument of Sangh Pariwar now? Does it mean all the Hindus are terrorists?

As a matter of fact I strongly object to the terminology being usually used in public discourse as Hindu terrorist or Muslim terrorist. Let us not blame the whole religion for an act of an individual. Anybody who has faith in any religion can not think of killing someone. But at the same time I do accept the fact that hardliners do exist in our society in every phase of our history but all of them were never necessarily a terrorist.

Do you agree?

Regards,
Sanjay Nirupam

Thank you

Dear All,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who came and attended the Chhath Puja keeping all biases aside. I would also like to thank all those who assisted me in making the Puja a memorable event- The Supreme Court, Govt. of Maharasthra, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Mumbai police, the District Collector my Staff and all my well-wishers.

I also want to share this email I got from a girl.

Dear Mr. Nirupam,

I am Shweta Verma [name changed]. I happened to have my weekly off on the day of the Chhath Puja so I attended it with a couple of friends of mine. I clicked a few pics as well. I experienced many things being there. Would like to share them with you.

Firstly as I grabbed a ric I noticed a red tika on the forehead of the driver. Something in me immediately made him ask, “ Kaka tumhi marathi aahat?”[uncle are u a marathi]

Ric fella-yes

Me-So how come u said yes to go to juhu beach?

Ric fella- why I shouldn’t go?

Me- Don’t u know about the puja happening their

Ric fella- yes I do.

Me- Uncle I am a north Indian…how come u letting me travel in ur vehicle.

Ric Fella- what happens with that. I will get paid for my hard work. How does it matter what caste u r.

Me-don’t u know bout the recent happenings in Mumbai. Dont u feel irritated that we have come from north India and other ric fellows too.

Ric fella- if some one works hard why I should have a problem.

I will like to add that the entire conversation was done in my not so good Marathi.

Here’s his pic…

On the way to Juhu Beach I noticed many people traveling with sugarcane and other material for the Puja. Looked fascinating. So took pics of them too.

Once I reached there I was aghast to look at the crowd. I used to see it on TV during other festivals….but for a festival which is not of maharashthra origin and still have this much strength was amazing. I was later told by someone that this was 75 % of the strength of the past years.

I managed to browse through the crowd and get a glimpse of you offering your prayers to the Surya dev. It was a lovely sight. A man with power- political….influential person…did fear someone…did bow down in front of someone…. GOD. I also saw a huge crowd surrounding you trying to pray along side you and your security guards struggling to manage them…a little harshly. I got irritated….but was glad to see the same irritation on your face, and how u told ur security guards to not treat others this way. A sign of humanity I must say. I clicked a few pics of yours but I m sure you must be having them in abundance. So I am sending you few other pics.

Before leaving I managed to get to the back of the stage n clicked a few pics of the crowd.

In all I want to say….I m not a very religious person or very interested in politics either. But I appreciated the way you carried out the entire ceremony and managed the whole occasion with grace and dignity. A few more leaders like you I hope could emerge.

Keep up the good work.

Shweta Verma.

Thank you Shweta for attending the Puja and for your lovely mail and photos. I am humbled. I am posting some pictures from my side too.

Thanks and Regards

Sanjay Nirupam

All are welcome…

Strangely for some political reasons a Puja has been used as a bait to get the political thoughts out strongly. Right thoughts or wrong, I am no one to comment. But I can definitely put my foot down when the medium used is a scared thing. That would mean using religious sentiments of people to create divide between the masses.

A cosmopolitan city- and some political parties expect that all would live, celebrate pray in a particular manner only. All have their mannerisms or rituals that they would wish to follow.

However I am very much in line with the thought that there should be no display of political power in the name of religious prayers and ceremonies. And none of my previous year’s ceremonies were used to show that a massive number of people could be gathered on my calling. They all came there to offer their prayers to their deity.
You got it. This is in reference to Our Famous, traditional Chhath Puja.

Chhath Puja is one of the biggest religious celebrations of the north Indian migrants in the city. When I started celebrating it at a large scale for the first time in 1998 the city was ignorant about it. Now it’s a great honour for all the 50 lacs migrants that the puja has made its place in the calendar of city festivals.

I wish to welcome all of you to a religious ceremony on the 4th of November from 4 p.m. onwards on Juhu Beach, Juhu, Mumbai.

Lets celebrate keeping all bias aside with all devotion and commitment.

Thanks and Regards,
Sanjay Nirupam

Spare the defenseless

Having a political ideology is agreeable in this democratic country, but forcing that upon poor, defenseless, vulnerable janta, through means not accepted by the law is not appreciable.

This sentence says it all. Any political party is entitled to have its political views and ideologies. It need not be acceptable by other political parties. We name this democracy. The brawl is against the thought processes of parties which should be solved in a decent political manner and not by vandalizing common man’s life and property. However bending the law and stooping down to levels that terrorize innocent people is highly condemnable. I refer to the recent happenings in Mumbai where a group of fanatics and lunatics resorted to violent means there by distorting the peace and calm of the financial hub of the country. They lowered themselves to the level of irrational human beings just because their leader- who had instigated them to beat up students appearing for the railway exams- was arrested

And it is not just me who feels this so. As a matter of fact the constitution states that any citizen of the country can choose his work place in any part of the country. No one can stop anyone from working anywhere. What kind of leadership would persuade its followers to go against the law of the country?
For the past 5000 years the strength, gloss and sheen of the country has been the diversity in her culture. People, countries, religions came, ruled us but we stood strong, thanks to our deep rooted principles and beliefs. Despite the onslaught of cultural influences on our nation owing to globalization, the culture, the beliefs, the social etiquettes and the religious harmony of the people of our great motherland have remained intact. Such is the strength of our unity, be it religious, geographical, social or emotional. But now, some miscreants are making a ridiculous attempt to smudge values of our country and victimize our culture.
On the personal front too hindrances were created to deter me from conducting the ‘Chatt Puja’- a part of the north Indian culture despite me celebrating it every year where lakhs of North Indians gather to offer their prayers. What were we doing? Just offering our prayers to our deity. The constitution allows every citizen to pray anywhere in the country but nobody understood the fundamentals of our own constitution and people’s feelings.
I was glad that my office was targeted. At least I am in a position to defend myself from the ‘Goondagiri’ unlike the poor innocent common man who has come here just to earn a living and get a decent night’s meal.
I urge everybody not to bow down to what are the dying sparks of an unconstructive legacy as the Law shall triumph over the unjust acts.
I would love your point of view as well. Leave back your outlook towards what the city faced in the past few days.
Regards,
Sanjay Nirupam.

Bigg Boss

Hello Friends,

Today I wish to talk about me being a part of the reality show Bigg Boss. There have been many opinions, judgements, assumptions etc on why I chose to be a part of Bigg Boss and why I challenged the organizers when I was invited for re-entering the Bigg Boss house via a wild card entry. The news reports that I came across were sadly an attempt to sensationalise or scandalise the truth rather than getting to the root of the problem. I lay here my reasons for both joining and agitating-which are debatable.

To start with I felt challenged when I had received the invitation to be a participant in the show. No politician had ventured into that arena and entered a place where he would be watched 24x7. So I thought: Why not?

Another very crucial reason in my mind was that by being a part of the reality show I would be in a position to show the people of the country that politicians are not always what they are projected as. They are human too. They have emotions. They also crave to spend time with their families . And if I may say so, they too have interests in cooking, singing and arts. I believed I was not doing anything wrong.

It is altogether a different matter that I was nominated within a day of being in the House and mostly for the reason that – people did not understand me. For example Jade Goodie nominated me because she couldn’t recollect everyone’s names but mine. However, I wanted to leave gracefully, which I did.

As I watched the subsequent episodes, I realized that there wasn’t any clarity in the way participants were being voted out. [I am not laying any allegations.] I did get to hear similar thoughts from many people and I myself felt that something was amiss somewhere. Also the vulgarity of the show was increasing day by day. Brushing the thoughts under the carpet I moved on with my daily schedule.

Then I was invited for the wild card entry. This is where I put my foot down. The show had lost its decency. It was to be a family show in my understanding. But the vulgarity levels had reached their peak. The use of foul language had become an irritant. My belief system wouldn’t let me be a part of this evident vulgarity.

Along side I asked the organizers to show me the proof of the votes that had come in. I told them: “I will go once I am satisfied that the voting process is foolproof.” I wanted it to be transparent. But they were not ready to show the voting statistics. Why were they not ready to show the votes polled for various participants who were voted out? When it is a reality show and the rule of the game is public vote, why this shyness in revealing the figures? I feel the trust of the people in the organizers would have increased manifold had they been open about the process. But sadly, they weren’t.

Hence, I opted out. Was I wrong? I will appreciate your opinions – positive or negative on the not so transparent voting process and the increasing vulgarity of the show. I will try to respond to them.

Regards,

Sanjay Nirupam.

One Futher Step

Namaste,

Few of you may know me personally, many through my profession and most now through Bigg Boss. I have ardently stuck by the reason of me being a part of Bigg Boss. It was to reach out to those people who stray away from politics or the likes. Some say I have achieved my goal and some say it was a mistake. I wish to leave that to perspectives.

But for me, I still have the strong desire to reach out to as many people as I can and fulfill the purpose of my profession-Serving the people. Hence taking a step further I have started this blog where I plan to be regular.

I hope to use this blog for the purpose of interaction with ANYONE. Anyone who needs assistance, advice or for that sake anyone who just wants to put across his/her opinion on anything.

I make myself available, open and accessible here on the blog for people of my constituency or outside my constituency. Any comments, complaints, feedback, issues, ideas, grievances or thoughts are most welcome. Me and my team will make all efforts to do what best is advisable, possible and feasible for the comments received.

I want to help to my best capacity and hence I have miles to go before I rest.

Sincerely Yours,

Jai Hind.

Sanjay Nirupam.