It appears that this lazy, somnambulist nation wakes up only when tragedies of mammoth proportions erupt. It wakes up but for a bit and lapses again into sleepwalking. However, in that brief interval, something resembling the good and the just occurs.
It took China to crush Nehru’s Han-friendship wet dreams to wake us up. It took decades upon decades of Indira-inflicted suffering to finally vote her out for however brief a period. It similarly took decades upon decades to realize that Islamic snake oil was sold in the name of secularism. It took nearly a decade to realize that it’s impossible to bridge the distance between “justice” and “Teesta.” However, something good has emerged in all these instances.
And so is the case of Alka Lamba, a Congress-appointed weed who was weeded out of the National Commission for Women (NCW).
Place your hand on your heart and answer this question truthfully: how many of you had had even a brief idea about the functions of the NCW? That is, a brief idea apart from the token knowledge that it’s a body that deals with issues concerning women. Not much, right?
Now, place your hand on your heart again and answer this question truthfully: how many of you have heard the news regarding the molestation of that Class XI girl in Guwahati? That’s right. All of you know about it, have read about it, and a large number us would’ve seen that video as well.
Now you suddenly hear about the NCW everywhere and I know that many would’ve taken pains to learn more about it. Which brings us back to where we began: had this incident not occurred, life would’ve gone on, with the somnambulism intact, and nobody would’ve cared whether an NCW even existed. Which is how Alka Lambas of the world get appointed to such highly-responsible positions. Your ignorance is their investment.
Barely five seconds into researching for this piece, I found some interesting stuff when I typed “Alka Lamba” in Google. Thanks to Google Instant, research has gotten more revealing. See for yourself.
Pretty self-explanatory, what most people associate Alka Lamba with eh? Oh but people will be people and the Internet is an untameable bull and her personal life is none of our business.
However, what is definitely our business is the fact that she, as a politician, has more shades of black than white. Here are just two, drawn from my very quick and basic research.
- She’s the Chairperson of an NGO called Go India Foundation whose website has information about everything except its funding sources. And when you finish reading everything on that site, you can’t shake off the eerie feeling that it’s similar to the NGOs owned and operated by the extra-Constitutional vampires of the NAC.
- As early as in 2003, her husband lamented and complained how she had harassed him. Perhaps another equally eerie echo of the misuse of the dreaded Section 498(a)? Worse is this allegation he makes:
Congress candidate from Moti Nagar Alka Lamba’s estranged husband, Lokesh Kapoor, has alleged that Lamba has illegally occupied his flat in Subhash Nagar. He also alleged that she has been using it as her political office for the last three years. Kapoor said that Lamba, throughout their marriage had harassed both him and his parents as she felt that they came in the way of her political ambitions. “I would have kept quiet about it had it not been for the fact that she is projecting herself as an honest person,” he said. He added that Lamba and he stayed in the flat for a year, after which she threw him out.
A more detailed research will, I’m sure, unearth more worms. However, even forgiving this sordid record, let’s see her competence as a functionary of the NCW. A few Facebook status updates from her profile more than adequately tells the story of a reasonably good-looking woman who can barely articulate, speaks in SMS lingo, and is unable to utter a single sentence that makes sense. Actually, these are perfect qualifications given that they perfectly match—except for the SMS lingo bit—that of the Prince who has been “elevated” to Prince ++.
Victim girl has called me and worried after getting the news that I have been sacked,I told her…. I have done my job with full honesty before I have sacked …. my true affords to provide the justice to the victim girl is continue till the end.. as i promised her…. am ready for any kind of sacrify … i know the facts n reality… am sorry if i hurt any one … i mentioned the real name as per the victim request(there is a reason she gave me) and as it was already in media before I said,,, with the believe that media will beep it out rahter thn making it a issue…. jai hind!
LEAVE COWARD PEOPLE ON GOD TO SAVE THEM….
In the morning first thought came to my mind while going through my profile that 25,088 Subscribers and 5,084 Friends …Total around 30 thousand people …. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO ME OR DOES IT MEAN A LOT ? …. JAI HIND!
Okay I give up. I can’t endure sifting through all of her Facebook status updates but you get the general idea.
If this is one end, the other end of the spectrum has Nirmala Sitharaman, who was a member of the NCW from 2003-2005. Perhaps in a bid to undo to the ill-informed doings of Alka and her ilk, Nirmala Sitharaman wrote this superb—almost stoic—piece in a bid to defend the NCW. It’s not just highly articulate, but more importantly, in a span of a few paragraphs, traces the history, explains the functioning of, and the genuine accomplishments of the NCW. Of course, there’s nothing much I or anybody else can add by way of elaboration.
But then Nirmala is no longer with NCW. Which is understandable given the current dispensation, which is running amok on all fronts showing no signs of stopping. Hence Alka Lamba. Also, good riddance.
@ Sandeep
Although it is unrelated to this piece, I just wanted to bring to your notice the latest write-up of Koenrad Elst. It is superb:
http://koenraadelst.blogspot.in/2012/07/the-british-were-not-guilty-of.html
@Menka: Husband’s complaint is NOT private life. It is about the illegal occupation of her husband’s flat and its use as a POLITICAL office. This should be publicly discussed. It appears that you did not read the post fully at first and criticized Sandeep and are now clutching at straws to justify your attack.
@menka, Her husband allegation first publish in newspaper,sandeep only reproduced it.If our newspapers did not find any fault in that then why sandeep?
@Arvind
That is the best part. Inspite of stating so, he has mentioned about what her husband alleges. There is no need for it. He also says detailed research will unearth more worms. It is such good post and I cant fathom why he has to bring in Unsubstantiated allegations made by her husband.
@Menka: Do you even read the post before responding? Sandeep clearly states that her personal life is none of our business. Exact words: ” Oh but people will be people and the Internet is an untameable bull and her personal life is none of our business.”
So many bodies like NCW and PUCL that used to be prestigious names to be associated with have been hijacked by determined people with sinister agenda. Gone are the days of Nirmalaji, and NCW is just a stooge of the you-know-who! This fact has been revealed time and again. The ties of the news channel with the dyNasty party and the real sequence of events of that unfortunate evening in Guwahati is out in the open now. I guess the real news reached the control tower pretty quickly, and the NCW was put to task, yet again. The main intention behind pushing the NCW was to contain the damage and whitewash the deeds of hooligans who have an intimidating word, ‘Youth’ in their name. The choice of this lady in the team is interesting, as she has climbed the political ladders through the same ‘Youth’ group, and makes it highly evident what the real motives of the team were.
The last time this fancy NCW group was called in, their task was to attest the falsified rape accusations at Bhatta Parsaul by the plus-plus who also hallucinated about seeing the ashes of 70 burnt alive, but they botched up that job too.
Just read Nirmala Jee’s article. Thanks link. What a brilliant write up. Only comment I have is that it was only published in a third rate paper, which is part of deranged Fourth Estate.
@Menka – Good point. The answer is yes and no; depending on which side of the fence you are sitting. If you are on Congress’ side of the fence – it will be perceived as a intrusion into someone else’s life. From the other side though: it just happens that Congress does it so often that the people on the other side think it is fair game. How many times have the opposition MLAs and MPs tarred with highly personal anecdotes which the common person has no way of verifying. For instance, the outlook piece on NaMo was simply about maligning him – not to criticize his running of a government. Or how Vinod Sharma wrote a disgusting piece on Nitin Gadkari’s physical problems (his obesity).
In conclusion – the personal details are used to smear Alka Lamba because that is the precedent that has been set. A precedent, if I may add, that has proven to be quite effective at countering political opponents. Since Sandeep is exercising his right to express his political views, he is using the very weapon that is used extensively by the opposite camp.
Hope that answers your question.
k
Nice critique on Alka but why get into personal matters? Do you have any proof of what her husband says is true? I mean you could have omitted those details and still your post would have been very valid.