2014 Prime Minister

A visit to Rome & Vatican

A visit to Rome & Vatican

By

R. Bhakther Solomon

Wednesday, the 18^th July 2012, started the day from Hotel President (Western) at 9 a.m. to explore the city of Rome. The first stop was the Colosseum. After two hours of exploration of the place, became tired, so headed to Centre part of the city, near the main city station to have lunch. Then headed to Piazza Navona. It was built in 1^st century on the site of the stadium of Domitian, the Piazza follows the open space of the stadium. In the centre of the Piazza lies the  famous Fontana Quattro Fiumi. (Foundation of the Four Rivers).

Then went sight seeing by bus and enjoyed the one hour crossing all the important landmark sites / buildings of the city. Then at about 4 pm reached Saint Peters Square.  Before we went inside Saint Peter’s Cathedral, we headed up to the Dome. We had read this was a very difficult catastrophic climb – 356 (or 340)  steps up a very narrow and curved stairwell. The view from the top of the Dome was amazing.

Saint Peter’s Cathedral is the largest Catholic Church in the world. Well over one hundred years of design and details went into the structure along with thousands of works of arts. It is almost disturbingly opulent with gilded moulding and ceilings with mural.

The next day, the first stop was Castle of Saint Angelo. It had been a fortress and was used to hide Pope during war time. After this we went shopping. After a tea break, we went to see the Ferrari Showroom as my son was very particular to visit the showroom. Earlier in Paris, we had been to Mercedez Benz showroom. While  abroad, we never fail to take food from Mc Donald. We saw the biggest M-Store in Rome. More than 100 people were lined up at 7.30 p.m. to have the last meal of the day.

At the hotel, we were advised to avoid carrying anything in our pockets! Yes,  during our last visit in 2008 my wife’s handbag was snatched by a person  and he soon disappeared from the scene. Luckily this time, nothing happened in Rome.r

Do we wait for ages to make our hold places to be holier?

Do we wait for ages to make our holy places to be holier?

By

R. Bhakther Solomon

 

Shirdi,  the famous religious place in India:  On 5^th July 2012, until I landed in Pune airport, I had no idea where I would be accommodated for attending an International meet on Cooperatives. As per the UN, 2012 is the International Year of Cooperatives. Along with other  delegates  from 15 countries. I took part in an International Co-operative meet at Shirdi. The meet was even briefly attended by Maharashtra CM Mr.Prithiviraj Chavan and by  five of his cabinet colleagues including the Minister for Co-operatives. On arrival at PUNE we  were taken to Shirdi, a town, 225 KM away from Pune. It was unfortunate that I had not previously known much about this place. It was a big town, where Late Sai Baba came in at an young age and lived till his end. He seems to have brought peace, prosperity and had reportedly  lot of miracles to his believers.  It is now a famous religious site in North India, like the Tripathi temple in Andhra Pradesh

 

Ban on Liquor: A large number of people from different parts of the country daily visit this place. There is a big temple where the Sai Baba prayed. Devotees believe that darshan in the temple, where Late Sai Baba spent his prayerful years, would bring peace and prosperity to them. It may be true also, otherwise people may not visit in large numbers. In the major areas of the town, fortunately there is a ban in selling liquor! A good practice which other religious centres should follow.

  

Chaotic town planning:  Unfortunately, the town is not kept clean. There is heavy traffic in the main road leading to the town. There are a large number of hotels of all star categories and restaurants of different kinds. Big commercial buildings are constructed without proper long term Town planning. There is no coping mechanism to see that the visitors get good feelings about the surrounding places of the holy temple. Roads are in bad shape. People move in a disorderly way all over the town looking for accommodation from cheap rentals to star accommodation  and food. In every small eatery, one  could see large crowds. Vehicles are parked all round the town in a is a disorderly way.

Vatican, in Rome:  I was fortunate exactly a month ago, I was  in another world famous religious place called the Vatican in the city of Rome along with my wife and son. This was my third visit and the second one for my wife and the first one for my son. My son was very particular to visit the place as he always fascinated by the Roman History / Empire. During the visit, it was for the first time I heard from my son about the cruelty that played out inside the Colosseum Stadium like complex during the early  Roman period. Ancient Rome’s ampi-theater, holder up to 55000 peoples was built by emperor Vespasian in AD 80 and was the scene of many deadly gladiatorial and wild animal fights. Here also, there are thousands of visitors to see the Vatican Basilica every day. A large number of people/ families visit from different parts of the world. Incidentally, Italy was also famous for myopia & drugs in the last century.  Rome/Vatican is Malia right in Italy, though the holy abode of Pope is separately administered. Interestingly, being a tourist haven at all times of the year, even now, all visitors to Italy / Rome are cautioned about pick pocketing!

 

Tranquillity maintained:  To our pleasant surprise, all human movements comes to halt after 7 pm around the Basilica in Rome. A Day long sightseeing buses stop their operation by 7 pm and there after no one could visit the church. Even the late visitors to the nearby Basilica have to depend upon the taxi. During the day time visitors are not only allowed to go inside the Basilica but also even allowed to go up to the top of the shrine, about 356 steps. One may have to climb step by step through a narrow spiral kind of passage where only one person at a time can step in/up. Up keep of the surrounding areas by the Church/civic authorities is something others need to emulate.

Velankanni, another famous place in Tamil Nadu: I am also a frequent official visitor to Nagapattinam. Nearby there is another famous church for Roman Catholics in India. A Large number of people every day visit this place also. It was a place where the maximum number of people died during the 2004 Tsunami. During the onslaught of Tsunami, many shops in and around the church were completely destroyed but the Church was not affected.  Though the church compound area is kept clean, the up keep of the main road leading to the church is a story of Shirdi replayed here. The main road leading to the church is full of shops selling all kinds of eatables, resulting in people littering the places with all kind of dirt. The nearby public / private bus stand is another public nuisence, not convenience. Many of the shops are owned by the church as well as by the civic authorities & they collect exorbitant rent. Still the area is not kept clean.

Religious Places:  When it comes to religious places and their maintenance, we, the Indians seem to be less bothered about the sanitation of the whole place. We just enter the temple/ church and say our prayers and make a small offerings and exit from the place with good feeling. It is good to record here that not only civic authorities makes lot of money by way  of different taxes from the people but also Temples and the Churches collects millions of money every year by way of offering from the public. 

Work for the good upkeep: It is high time in India that  authorities  - both  the Government and Temples/ Churches take note of the deterioting conditions in and around religious places in India  take efforts to preserve the outside environemnt as they would the sanctum sanctorum inside these temples and churches It will be of some interest to record here that in few town/cities in many countries even the civic authorises use vehicles fitted with water tanks  to clean the streets. Why should we lack on this? Should India, hoping to be one of the super powers,  fall behind in keeping our religious places as holy places? Let the Tourism & Cultural Ministries take special efforts on maintenance of these places to  attract more devotees to these places.

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Rashtrapati  Bhavan - Who will adorne the highest office Chair of the greatest democratic country, the Indian Union?

By

R. Bhakther Solomon

Stage one. The race for the highest office in Raisina Hills has begun. During the month of May, all the Political parties, are preoccupied with the consideration of possible names for the highest office. The print media as well the electronic media are also very vibrant in suggesting names for the highest office. While the major political parties, viz  the BJP and the Congress are keen that their nominee should  be elected, as they expect that after the next Lok Sabha election, the incumbent President will have to play a key role in “installing” the next government. No wonder, even regional parties are also particular that their chosen person should be in the office. The logic is  in the event of  any regional Chieftain claiming to form the government with "outside" support from other parties, he / she can expects the President to call him / her to form the government. The choice is now  veering around keeping “our man/ woman” in office rather than an eminent personality with socio-economic and political experience occupying the highest office.

  UPA means the Congress nominee. The UPA with about 40% votes under its command is yet to formally announce the name. Nevertheless, inside the party circles, two important names are reportedly being considered by the party. The present Vice- president Dr. Hamid Ansari and then the ever active experienced politician  the present Finance Minister Mr.Pranab Mukherje. There is also a possibility that in the last minutes, a new dark horse may emerge as the party nominee, as  unexpectedly happened in 2007. Even the present Lok Sabha speaker Ms.Meira Kumar, a soft spoken person, is also being thrown as a “consensus” candidate.  She is a dalit leader and the daughter of late. Mr. Jagagivan Ram, the person who missed the chance of becoming the first Dalit PM of the country. Mr.Morarji Desai spoiled his chance in 1977, West Bengal CM. Mamata Banerejee may  to back her. Mr.Antony, often referred to as Mr. Clean is also being occasionally mentioned in few quarters. Presently DMK, and NPC are in agreement with the Congress, if any one of the two is being nominated. The communists parties may also extend their support, provided the choice is confined to any one of them. There is every possibility of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Chief Mayawati supporting the UPA candidate, unless she herself stands for the august office. SP is not very vocal on this so far. It is keeping its cards very close to its chest.  May be Mulayam Singh may be waiting for some one to suggest  his name!  However, Mulayam Singh Yadav’s presence in UPA’s eighth anniversary function on 22^nd May at 7, Race Course Road, may be a 

. Pranab Mukherejee

welcome addition to UPA’s vote Bank. In a sense during the anniversary function the Congress party or for that matter Ms.Sonia Gandhi had demonstrated that it had the numbers to get its own nominee elected. Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan, Lok Janshakti Party has  already committed to support the UPA candidate. Eventually, the chance of the Congress nominee getting an upper hand cannot be ruled out.  It may not be out place to record here that I had the opportunity of listening to Mr.Pranab Mukherejee,  March 1995 at Cophengan Denmark when he addressed a small group of about “15 Indian NGO Delegates” to the World Summit for Social Development. The dialogue session helped us to understand the India’s stand on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). I was the one mostly clicking photos in the session! No wonder, I missed a good photo with him!

                        

UPA Chairperson. Ms. Sonia Gandhi  has not publically spoken anything about the President election so far. However, there are reports that she is likely to meet the opposition parties within next one or two weeks for a consultation in this regards. She may suggest few names from her side or may even try to seek suggestions from the opposition parties. She may be giving an image that she is for a “consensus candidate”. Once the consultation process is completed, she is likely to meet the other UPA constituents  to get their support. There is every chance that all the UPA partners in en-block would commit their support fully to the Congress nominee.  So as of now UPA candidate is likely to get a minimum of 40% of votes. In case, the communists, SP & BSP come forward to support the Congress nominee, then that person will have clear win. The total electorate strength is 1009882. The winner must get 549442!

R.A.Sangma. A quick more from Dr.J.Jayalalitha. AIADMK Supreme Dr.J.Jayalalitha  who nourishes the hope of becoming PM or a major player at the centre after the next election, proposed the name of Mr. Purno Agitok  Sangama, the former Lok Shaba speaker from North East for the highest office. She has received support from Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, the BJD president. It was learnt that Sangama had earlier canvassed for his name  on the count that so far no tribal has occupied the highest office. There are about 100 million tribals in the country.  He had also met Dr. Jayalalithaa  along with her daughter, Ms. Agatha Sangma who is a minister in the UPA government! Dr. Jayalithaa had also during the last couple days spoken to many like minded party leaders –BJP leaders L.K.Advani, Community party of India (M), General Secretary Prakash Karat, CPI Leader A.B.Bardhan, TDP Leader Chandra Babu Naidu, SP Leader Mulayan Singh and Punjab Chief Minister Parakash Singh Badal.  Unfortunately, she has not sought the support of Mamtha and Mayawati. It may not augur well for  her status.  Perhaps, she does not want either Maya or Mamthawati to take credit for the nomination of Sangama!  So far, Mayawati is indifferent to the name suggested by Dr.Jayalalithaa. It is also a surprise why Dr.Jayalalithaa nominated Mr.P.A.Sangma. She has her own reasoning but it is not convincing!

Image building move. Accordingly to local leaders, it is a smart move.  It may also help her to  boost her image at the national level, as a champion of minorities.  It may also help her to try her luck in forming and leading a Third Front just before next Lok Sabha Election.  It is tactical move by the AIADMK leader Dr. Jayalalitha not only to pre- empt the congress, game plan to field Vice- President Ansari or the union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee. Though it is a politically strategic move by the AIADMK to make others, especially  BJP to fall in line with her selection.  many from the North are  now put in a spot including BJP. According to Dr. Jayalalithaa “Sangama not only belongs to a tribal community but is also eminently qualified to the president of our great nation”. Unfortunately, Mr.Sangama, NCP, General Secreary, may not  get the support of Mr.Pawar,  the NCP leader who along with Sangama left the congress party a decade ago and formed Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Their major plan at the time of NCP formation was their opposition to Ms. Sonia.  Mr.Sangma was expelled from the Congress on May 20, 1999 along with Sharad Pawar and Tarig Anwar for raising the banner of revolt against Sonia over her foreign origin issue.

Liked by many. During his time as minister in the Centre, Mr. Sangma was liked by many. That was precise reason that though he was in opposition, in 1996 he was elected to office of speaker of Lok Sabha. It is an irony that Sangama’s daughter  is now  the youngest Minister of State in UPA. After the President election she may be dropped out from the cabinet! On the otherhand, if Sangama get elected she may also get an important cabinet berth! No body knows whom the God of Luck would favour! Incidentally, I had the rare privilege of explaining / demonstrating with Pre & Post village models  to Mr.A.P.Sangama in May 1997,  (when he occupied the post of Speaker), the Development process initiated by Action Aid, Chitradurga District, Karnataka Projects(AKP) in backward areas for the Development of poor  Chitradurga in Karnataka. I noticed that he was good listener, made keen observations and asked few searching questions, which I readily answered. He appreciated the good work done by us.

BJP late comer in the scene. The next major party, the BJP seems to be in introspection mode. Few weeks ago, there was an open talk of few in BJP favouring a second term for the former President Dr.Abdul Kalam. Few other parties like SP from UP was also not averse to a second term to Dr. Abdul Kalam. Even Dr. Abdul kalam seems to enjoying the idea, as from his side opinion makers are happy about his name is being floated in the circle. So also the electronic media and print media, for reasons best known to them, seem to be egging Dr.Kalam’s name.  The former president seems to be enjoying the move, contrary to expectation that he would rule out his candidature. Once tasted the power even people like Dr. Abdul Kalam, who many claim to be man of principle is not averse to enjoying one more term. In the current political situation, I may not vote for him! Anyway, I am not in the electoral roll!  Many good things we miss in life! It does not matter much now!

BJP Mr.L.K. Advani.  BJP is in a disarray. There is confusion among the top leaders as to whom to support. BJP does not want the UPA candidate. It is also not keen to endorse Dr.Jayalalitha’s request. It is better that BJP promote the candidature of Veteran Advani rather than going around with a “search” of names or simply accepting other names suggested by other parties. He is eminently suited for the post. His erstwhile colleague Mr A. B Vaiypee had served as the PM of the county. Unfortunately, Advani, a long standing parliamentarian with good track record of serving in the Government as Minister and then Deputy Prime Minister had missed the PM post in May 2009. So it is time for him to be elevated to the highest post. I am sure all NDA partners would  accept him for the post. Even if some from BJP may have  “reservations” they may not openly oppose him.  NDA presently has about 28% votes! He may even get support  from SP and BSP.   In the event of Advani being nominated AIADMK,  naturally of BJP may have to re-consider its earlier decision. Dr. J.Jayalalitha will be ready to drop Sangma!

                         

 June Final countdown. The month of June will see few more names being considered  for the post like former West Bengal Governor Mr.Gopal Krishna Gandhi, Mr.M.M.Rajendran IAS, former Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu, the Delhi Lawyer’s Forum is motivating Mr.Nariman, the senior Supreme court Lawyer.   In the beginning of the race even names like Mr.Sam Pritoda Mr.Karan Singh and Mr.Farook Abudullah were talked about!  Alas, no body seems to be nominating Mr.Anna Hazare or Ms.Kiren Bedi or Mr.Kerjiwal or Mr.Jethmalani.

Of all the names currently being discussed Mr.Pranab Mukurjee will make a good President as he has wide  experience of public life and the skill & experience  required for the job.

Will the Congress spare him to this elevated post?  The Congress party will have to take a hard decision. If  Mukurejee is elavated it will   be good for the smooth  functioning of the Government. If the congress is  particular that its nominee should be elected to the post, it should be prepared to consider a person from opposition parties to the post of Vice- President. In should be not insist that its nominee should elected to the President & Vice President posts.

 Conclusion.  In the selection of the candidate for the President post, class, caste, religion and other regional factors should be kept outside the discussion. The country needs an eminent person with sound legal knowledge, political sagacity, a friend to all the parties, an honest and principled person, as the country is expected to undergo lot of radical changes not only in the economic field but also in bringing social equity  measures for its citizens during next 5 years. In short we can only Pray that let our elected representatives choose the best  one from the probable candidates. Long live Democracy & the office of President of India.