One of the most under rated Indians.

The day was 12 Nov 1948. Tokyo trials was going on in a huge garden house on the outskirts of Tokya, the trial of 55 Japanese war criminals including Japan's Prime Minister Tojo, after losing World War II. Of these, twenty eight people had been identified as Class A (Crimes against peace) war criminals. If proved, whose only punishment was "death penalty". Eleven international judges coming from all over the world were announcing it......."Guilty"......."Guilty"......"Guilty"......
Suddenly one thundered, "Not Guilty!"

A calm silence came down in the hallway. Who was this lone dissenter?

His name was Radha Binod Pal and he was from India. But in India nobody knew him.

Before going to Tokyo, he was one of the Calcutta High Court judges and for two years he was the Vice Chancellor of the University of Calcutta. Born in 1886 in the Kumbh of East Bengal (now Bangladesh), he was the poor son from a poor family. In his early childhood, his mother took shelter with her son in a village called Chuadanga, adjacent to the neighbouring village. For the sake of living, his mother used to take care of the household activity and the cow. During the feeding of the cow, the boy used to travel around the local primary school and when the daily teacher taught in school, he used to listen from outside. One day the school inspector came to visit the school from the city. He asked some questions of the students after entering the class. Everyone was silent. This boy shouted from outside of the classroom window......"I know the answer to all your questions". The boy answered all the questions one by one. Inspector said....."Wonderful!" and asked, 'Which class do you read?"

The answer came,".....I do not read....I graze cow". Everyone was shocked to hear that. Calling the head teacher, the school inspector instructed the boy to take admission in school as well as provide some stipend.

This is how the education of Radha Binod Pal had started. Then after passing the school final with the highest number in the district, he was admitted to Presidency College. After taking MSc from the University of Calcutta, he studied law again and got the Doctorate title. In the context of choosing the opposite of two things he once said, "Law and Mathematics are not so different at all".

Coming back, again, in the International Court of Tokyo. In his convincing argument, the rest of the jurists signify that the Allies (Winners of WWII) also violated the principles of restraint and neutrality of international law. In addition to ignoring Japan's surrender hints, they killed two hundred thousand innocent people using deadly nuclear bombardment. Most of the judges were forced to drop many accused from Class-A to B, seeing the logic written on twelve hundred thirty two pages by Radha Binod Pal. These Class-B war criminals were saved by him from sure death penalty. His verdict in the international court gave him and India a world-famous reputation.

Japan respects this great man. In 1966, Emperor Hirohito awarded him the highest civilian honour of the country, "Kokko Kunsao". Two busy roads in Tokyo and Kyotto have been named after him. His judgement has been included in the syllabus of law. In front of the Supreme Court of Tokyo, his statue has been placed. In 2007, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed his desire to meet his family members in Delhi and met his son.

Dr Radha Binod Pal's (27 Jan 1886 - 10 Jan 1967) name is remembered in the history of Japan. In Tokyo, he has a museum, a street and a statue in Yasukuni shrine. Japan University has a research center in his name. Because of his judgement on Japanese war criminals, the Chinese hate him. He is the author of many books related to law. In India, almost nobody knows him, even, perhaps, his neighbours! A Hindi movie was made on him starring Irfan Khan but that movie never made headlines.

This man is one of the most underrated Indians. Sad!


Tailpiece.

Had got up at our usual time. The inverter, providing emergency supply for power requirements, was replaced with a new one that has a six year guarantee. Had gone to town, after that, to buy a few items that Lekha had in her slop chit.

Bina, the maid, had called up in the evening to say that she'd be turning up for work tomorrow - the national strike by the trade unions, along with the hartal in the state, notwithstanding!

Interesting news!

India Develops Road to Doklam, Now Army Can Reach Doklam in 40 Minutes

The Border Roads Organization (BRO) has developed a network of roads on India's borders this year. The organization has developed about 60,000 km of roads in 2019. These include a 19.72 km long important road near Doklam, where in 2017, there was a conflict between the Indian Army and Chinese Army for more than two months.

The BRO, who works for the maintenance and development of the road network on India's borders, has also developed road infrastructure in some friendly neighbouring countries. In 2019, apart from roads, the BRO has also developed major bridges, 19 airfields and two tunnels in difficult and remote areas near the border areas.

The achievements of BRO this year included the construction of the 19.72 km Bhim Base - Doklam Road, which would help the Indian Army reach the strategically important Doklam base. It is on the edge of the disputed Doklam plateau in Sikkim, where it will now take only 40 minutes to reach, whereas earlier it used to take 7 hours. It will be an all weather black tarred road , with no restrictions on load carrying capacity.

When the Indian Army was in a tense situation with the Chinese People's Liberation Army in Doklam in 2017, it was not possible for Indian security forces to reach here in a short time. In this context, the importance of this road increases significantly.

The BRO is also developing an underwater tunnel in the Brahmaputra River. The BRO was given task to develop 61 Sino - Indian border roads, the length of these projects is 3,346 km.

        *                              *                                *

The Late Iranian General Qasem Soleimani - A friend of India?

Gen Soleimani was India's greatest friend and ally in the region. For those who understand our national security, the General had been a staunch supporter and even planned a rescue operation for Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav.

He had helped India to not only build ties with the Northern Alliance but also successfully prevented several sabotage operations at Chabahar and Afghanistan against India's interests. He had gone out of the way to influence Houthis in Yemen to call a ceasefire until General VK Singh rescued Indian nationals.

Besides being a top class special forces commander, not only Indians but several US military personnel respected the man as he had facilitated the release of US Navy personnel who had entered Iranian waters unknowingly. Right now, various military personnel in the US and NATO have condemned this stupid action, given the fact that this man was singularly responsible for wiping out ISIS from Iraq and Syria. if there is a country besides Iran who has been at a major loss, it is India.

Whether he was a good person or not is debatable but one thing is clear - he was a pain in the ass for Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and he was not hostile to India. For India, his death is something like the death of Ahmed Shah Massoud.

He stoked the fire of Balochistan and kept Pakistan on its toes, he hated ISI and the Pak Army, he single handedly kept the rag tag Houthis well armed and trained and they kicked the ass of the Saudis. As said, he helped wipe out ISIS.

He, also, may have wiped out the Pak brigade in Yemen recently.


Tailpiece.

Had got up at our usual time, gone through the chores and was ready in time. The Rajah medical team had come by a trifle late and the great thing was that I was able to give two receptacles of my urine for the RE and culture! But as it happens, the pain that I'd for the past two days around my liver had mysteriously vanished!

 Lekha made a trip to the Mammiyoor Siva kshetram but because there was a huge crowd due to the Maha Rudra Yajnjam, she was only able to have a fleeting glance of the good Lord! Got the results an hour and a half later. The readings are perfect. Then why was the pain for the past few days, I wonder? Shall wait and watch.

Leela chittamma, Saji, Salini, Vivek and Lakshmi dropped by at 1900 hrs. After spending the evening and having dinner with us, they left by about 2300 hrs. It was a nice get together!

Why the double standards?

The self-styled intelligentsia and opposition parties in India and elsewhere who have accused the Modi government of passing the Citizenship Amendment Act or CAA to establish a 'Hindu Rashtra' may have to eat their words.

In striking similarity to the Modi-led NDA's legislative initiative, the United States federal government in 1989 resolved to allow Jews and 'other religious minorities' from the former Soviet Union to resettle in the US as refugees. The Lautenberg Amendment, much like the CAA today, was ratified by the US Congress. The Lautenberg Amendment was eventually extended to include 'persecuted minorities' from Iran in 2004 through the Specter Amendment.

Today, in the United States of America under the Lautenberg-Specter Amendment 'persecuted religious' minorities like Jews, Christians, Baha'is fleeing Iran jump the queue to gain citizenship in the United States. Almost exactly like the Modi government's CAA, the Lautenberg-Specter Amendments positively discriminate among minorities by creating a 'reasonable classification' to exclude the Muslim majority. Yet, the liberal establishment in the United States has never accused its own successive governments of turning the country into a Christian theocracy.

Notably, even the Trump administration, which has an allergy to refugees, has persisted by extending the hallmark Lautenberg-Specter legislations each year. If recently, the Trump administration has begun to face flak for discriminating against Muslims by extending the Lautenberg-Specter Amendments, it is only because it's an election year in the United States.

The late Frank Lautenberg was the son of Jewish immigrants who grew up poor in New Jersey, United States. But he beat the odds to eventually become a Senator and championed this amendment bearing his name as he felt moved by the plight of persecuted minorities in the erstwhile Soviet Union.

What's most intriguing is that the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRSF) that has passed a scathing verdict against the Modi government has itself championed the Lautenberg-Specter Amendments. On 23 Feb 2018, this great self-proclaimed watch dog of religious freedom was so alarmed by the denial of protection to the 'Lautenberg-Specter' refugees that it remarked, "These refugees (Jews, Christians, Baha'is) face the imminent danger of return to Iran, where the already dire situation for religious minorities is steadily deteriorating".

If the USCIRSF and other 'news vendors' in the United States are so concerned with the future of 'persecuted religious minorities' in Iran why exhibit such disdain for the Modi government's effort to secure the endangered future of 'persecuted religious minorities' in Pakistan? Are Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Parsi, Jain and Buddhist lives in Pakistan inferior to those of Christian, Zoroastrian and Baha'i in Iran? Surely not. So what other possible reason could there be for such blatant hypocrisy?

Are the members of the USCIRSF and the 'news vendors' in United States upset that Narendra Modi has become Prime Minister despite their long-standing attempts to paint him a 'Hindu' bigot throughout the 2000s?

The eagerness with which the 'liberal' intelligentsia in India has championed the Western line on the CAA without so-much as even a 'fact check' raises some serious questions about its motives. Today, not only have these apparently jaundiced advocates of secularism succeeded in whipping up unparalleled fear in Muslim minds but they are also providing cover-fire to the Opposition to play a divisive and corrosive political hand.

While no one is arguing that the Lautenberg-Specter Amendment is the touchstone of Constitutional morality, the law doesn't make the United States of America anymore bigoted or anti-Muslim than the CAA does India.

Note. Adapted from Rahul Shivshankar's 'The inconvenient truth about the Anti-CAA protests' in Beyond The Headline.


Tailpiece.

Had got up at our usual time despite it being a Sunday, as our maid, Bina was reporting for work today. By about 1000 hrs, Lekha and I'd driven across to the nearby supermarket to buy grocery to be ready for Leela chittamma and her family's arrival tomorrow. They will be here, with us, for a day. The rest of the day was quiet and uneventful.

A new year story!

The passenger steamer SS Warrimoo was quietly knifing its way through the waters of the mid-Pacific on its way from Vancouver to Australia. The navigator had just finished working out a star fix and brought Captain John DS Phillips, the result. The Warrimoo's position was Lat 0 degrees 31' N and Long 179 degrees 30' W. The date was 31 Dec 1899. "Know what this means?" First Mate Payton broke in, "W're only a few miles from the intersection of the Equator and the International Date Line".

Captain Phillips was prankish enough to take full advantage of the opportunity for achieving the navigational freak of a lifetime. He called his navigators to the bridge to check and double-check the ship's position. He changed course slightly so as to bear directly on his mark. Then he adjusted the engine speed. The calm weather and clear night worked in his favour.

At midnight the SS Warrimoo lay on the Equator at exactly the point where it crossed the International Date Line. The consequences of this bizarre position were many :-

  * The forward part (bow) of the ship was in the Southern Hemisphere and in the middle of summer.

  * The rear (stern) was in the Northern Hemisphere and in the middle of winter.

  * The date in the aft part of the ship was 31 Dec 1899.
     In the forward part it was 01 Jan 1900.

This ship was therefore not only in :-

  - two different days,
  - two different months,
  - two different years,
  - two different seasons

    but in two different centuries - all at the same time!

Happy New Year!


Tailpiece.

Had got up at our usual time, gone through the chores and by 9, I was off to Amigos, the hairstylists,
that I frequent every month to trim the thinning hair on my pate and to get a nice massage. Sajish is my favourite and the proprietor, Kunjumon, ensures that he's available. On Sajish's insistence, I'd a facial done after the haircut and since I was short of money, I'd made a second trip to hand over the balance! And then, after a wash and change, I took a walk in the hot afternoon - armed with an umbrella, of course - met many people enroute and made sure that I shook hands with each and everyone whom I knew and wished everyone a happy new year. Felt nice at the end of it all and had returned with a kilogram of small bananas.

Some more news views......

Here are some more news bytes and my views on them......things seem to be hotting up for no rhyme or reason. But it would be best to wait and watch because the drama is still on.....So without much ado, here we go.

 (a) The differences are building up.

       Yes, the differences between Kerala's Governor, Mr. Arif Mohammad Khan and his government
       don't seem to subside. Something or the other keeps cropping up on a daily basis. The Governor
       is pretty sure of his stance regarding the state Assembly's resolution against the Citizenship
       Amendment Act (CAA) which are:-

             (i) The citizenship law is purely a central subject and the state has no role in it.
            (ii) No legal validity for the Assembly resolution.
     
        The ruling dispensation (LDF) and the opposition (UDF) find that what they've been bandying
        about - supposedly for the Muslims of India - is blunted by the firm and solid arguments put
        forth by the Governor and his consequent support for the Act! I think, of all the guys, the
        statements made against the Governor, by the Congress MP, K Muralidharan have exceeded the
        limits of propriety.

        It would be interesting to note as to who would blink first in this eyeball-to-eyeball
        confrontation. To my mind, the Governor is on a firm wicket and will ensure that good sense 
        prevails among all concerned!

  (b) Now what's wrong with the Pakistani PM?

        Imran Khan is at his worst yet again...he peddles lies at the drop of a hat and in doing so, has
        lost credibility over a period of time! Today, he seems to have tweeted certain shots of agitations
        that had taken place in Bangladesh, as the chaos that's taking place in India. He has cut a sorry
        figure on that, in front of the international community, as the facts have hit the screens the world
        over.

        And guess why he resorted to the lies? Goons had attacked Sikh pilgrims at Nankana Sahib
        Gurudwara in his country, injuring many of them and he was only trying to - without success,
        though - divert the attention of the world community.

        Sad! Probably, it's an act of desperation at the thought of being thrown away from his
        exalted position soon because his army has realised that he's become more of a liability. He's
        resorting to falsehoods and innuendos to stick on to his chair!

  (c) A case of jealousy? 

        India's former foreign secretary, Shiv Shankar Menon has come out against the government
        on the enactment of the CAA and the revoking of the Article 370. A few of the foreign office
        mandarins - Congress followers basically - have not been able to stomach the foreign policy
        initiatives of the Modi government and hence, are its ardent critics. Their presence is needed,
        very much, to keep the government under check from making gaffes.

        But I, too, support his statement that PM Modi's endorsement of President Trump - 'ab ki baar
        Trump ka sarkar' - could have been avoided!

        Why do I get a whiff of professional jealousy towards his successor on being made the
        country's foreign minister, immediately on completion of his tenure as foreign secretary!


Tailpiece.

Got up at our usual time, went through the chores and were ready on time. It was a quiet day.
        
           

News views.....

Another round of news watch and no, not the ones that have made headlines but about those which hand over certain valuable lessons in life! Without much ado, let me begin.

 (a) A Step in the Right Direction.

       The Uttar Pradesh government has given seven days to 150-odd people to respond to its notices
       for attaching their properties for their alleged involvement in damaging public property in
       Lucknow when anti-CAA protests became violent last month. The identification of the rioters
       was done after careful sifting of photographs and video footage. The accused will be given a
       week to present their side but if the committee (of  the Lucknow district) is not satisfied,
       proceedings will begin to extract compensation. If they are not in a position to pay, their
       properties will be attached and auctioned.

       Hope the proceedings are on fast track and the guilty brought to book at the earliest. It's a good
       beginning and will definitely be a deterrent for people to avoid taking law into their own hands!

  (b) Is This Love?

        S Lokeswari, all of 37 years, set herself ablaze outside the Punjagutta police station, in
        Hyderabad after lodging a cheating complaint against her live-in partner, Praveen Kumar. Soon
        after filing the report, she'd come out of the building, doused herself with petrol and set herself
        on fire. She succumbed to her injuries in a hospital yesterday.

        What a sad way to end one's life? Probably, it's a case of possessiveness! Emotional outbursts
        can happen in a whim but the magnitude of the catastrophe, saddens everyone. Or did she feel 
        let down after having heaped her love on an unworthy man? 

        RIP, Lokeswari! My tears and prayers!  

  (c) The Pope is Human After All!

        Pope Francis lost his cool momentarily while he was greeting faithfuls in St Peter's Square at
        the Vatican. A woman devotee had grabbed his hand and yanked him towards herself. The 83-
        year-old pope grimaced and scowled before managing to break free, slapping her hand twice.
        Later, the Pope admitted that he had lost patience momentarily and apologised for it. He
        continued with his tour, thereafter.

        The Pope is also human!


Tailpiece.

Had got up a trifle late. Lekha had gone to the Mammiyoor Siva kshetram as part of her weekly trysts. Later, I'd gone across to the LIC and the ICICI to drop cheques.     

         

Seen and heard.........

There's a lot of news that's floating all over. One has to be very careful in assimilating what is being handed over to us, gullible people, as authentic news because of late, many of them have later on found out to be blatantly fake. Anyways, here's news that's currently grabbing the headlines.

 (a) All about the anti-CAA riots.

       It's coming out in bits and pieces that the recent riots that one had witnessed was the handiwork
       of the extremist outfit, the PFI. This group consists of fundamentalist Islamic radicals which is
       said to recruit unsuspecting candidates to join the IS. The security agencies, even, do not
       discount the fact that this could be the metamorphosed version of the banned SIMI!

       These guys with radical thinking do not spare the majority of the benevolent Muslims who
       yearn to live in peace and often, try to provoke them to take a hard stance on issues and dub them
       as weak lackeys if they don't!

       The sad part about the whole issue was that quite a few students seemed to succumb to their
       false propaganda with a few political parties trying to take advantage of the vulnerability of the
       situation! Anyone who loves the country would have refrained from getting carried away! The
       only punishment to such people who incite violence and destroy public property is capital
       punishment. They should be tried for treason!

 (b) The ban on plastic.

       The total ban on the use of plastic material has come into being with effect from today. Of
       course, quite a large section of shopkeepers are going on strike against the implementation of
       the order 'in haste'. Their complaint - seems justified, too - is that the alternate arrangements
       are yet to be put in place. Cloth, jute or paper bags will take a long time to be freely available
       whereas the plastic bags come aplenty from the neighbouring states.

       It's my fond hope that the teething troubles are overcome at the earliest.

 (c) The special session.

       Was the special session of the Kerala State Assembly needed? Since when have the states been
       passing resolutions to counter the central government's decision. For a political party or parties
       to state their differences of opinion in public is part of a vibrant democracy but to pass a
       resolution, in the state Assembly is not backed by sound legal advice.

      The resolution, passed, has asked the central government to rescind the recently enacted CAA!

      So, knowing fully well about its futility, was it a PR exercise for the ruling dispensation? Or to
      show the CM being strong to have cocked a snook at the centre? And don't be surprised if and
      when the other state governments led by the opposition parties will follow suit! What's to be
      awaited is as to how the Shiv Sena tackles the issue; would it meekly succumb to the diktats of
      the Congress? Or will Sharad Pawar come up with another stunt?

      And why didn't the lone BJP MLA walk out before the voting, to avoid ambiguity, because his
      party's position is well known?


Tailpiece.

Had hit the sack after ringing in the new year, watching television programmes though none of them had anything spectacular in content. Got up a trifle late, consequently. Lekha had gone to the Guruvayur temple as part of her weekly tryst.