Whispers Forum

Difficult times are ahead for India in international politics. The US is trying to control, restrict and limit India by interfering in the internal affairs of our friendly neighbours: Bangladesh, Nepal, Srilanka and Bhutan. Pakistan is inimical to India. Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US, Afreen Akhter's recent visit to Bangladesh, is the case in point. She ostensibly met senior government officials, civil society members, Rohingya refugees, and reps from humanitarian organizations. The actual motive could be different : To emphasize the importance of " free and fair elections ". More candidly, to ensure the installation of a pro-US and anti-India regime in Bangladesh. The US wants Sheikh Hasina to resign and hold elections. This would be a serious setback to India as Bangladesh's present PM is pro-India. If she goes, the radicals will take over. Bad for India, but good for China, Pakistan and the US. China is trying to wean away our neighbours by reviving its so-called "String of Pearls" doctrine. Maldive, under its new pro-China President has started behaving like China's lapdog. He has ordered Indian military personnel, numbering around 70, to leave the Maldives. India has been over-optimistic and over confident in its relationship with the US. Ground realities are different. Take the case of the recent visit to POK by the US envoy to Pakistan. This is a matter of grave concern for India. Did India protest to the US? Was the Home Minister's assurance in Lok Sabha to grab POK, a mere rhetoric? Pakistan is a hostile neighbour, aided and abetted by China. It will remain inimical. Neither China's nor the US's deep states wish to see India growing strong economically. Both, as super powers, wish to control as many countries of the world as possible. Equal partners in de-stabilising India and its neighborhood by triggering flashpoints and inciting communal (Hindu-Muslim) riots in India. All things considered, India under the present dispensation, has been over-enthusiastic, over-confident in its relations with the US. The naive and gullible Indian citizens have been tricked, fooled. Consider, how were arrests of eight Indian citizens (spies as per Qatar) kept under the wrap for a year till the pronouncement of death sentences? The US has a large military presence in Qatar. Does it have a hand in it so as to embarrass India? India will be left alone in the coming years in the face of changing global Geo-politics. At least, so it seems. Who is responsible? Who administers Indian foreign policy: MEA or PMO, one wonders?
A K Saxena ( A former civil servant)

“Do Goli Khao Loneliness Bhagaao” Loneliness, which the WHO has already made an epidemic and a genuine global public health issue, is neither a disease nor a medical condition but a self-inflicted social injury. Science, technology, economics, finance, law, medicine have engaged all the human attention at the cost of other balancing branches of life. The lonely must first ask a few questions to herself/himself: have I accepted society as a necessary part of living or rejected it completely? Have I spent a regular quality time with my parents, siblings, children, neighbours, friends? Have I enjoyed being together as a couple or spent life as a de-coupled pair? Economic growth and social deficit increase proportionately simultaneously. Loneliness is the biggest achievement of social deficit. Answers to these questions will reveal whether you are lonely by choice or accident. ‘Shant Ras’ is the best remedy for an agitated or anguished mind. A dose in the morning and another in the evening is all that one needs. It is free: no consultation fees or medicine bills. Start with a prayer in the morning and close it in the evening by joining a ‘sankirtan’ either physically or virtually. The social malnutrition suffered will be compensated by the required amount of calming of the nerves. One instantly joins the company of the evolved human beings.
M L Gupta