"Hope" is a beautiful political tool of democracy, effective to guide innocent citizens into oblivion.. Srivastava Rajesh

Life is a theatre that's always alive with histrionics till the curtains are down.... Srivastava Rajesh

We respect our teachers and parents due to the values that gets instilled in us in our schools. For these values to become profound, the efforts of building a child needs to be concurrently supplemented by culture back home.... Srivastava Rajesh

If a Nation through its policies in education, instills a belief in it's teaching fraternity that the teachers are creators of society and are walking with the God in the classroom, half of the battle is won... Srivastava Rajesh

Shaheed-e-Mumbai 26/11 Speech

TODAY this evening on 26/11, an important date in India’s History of Terrorism and National Security I extend my heartiest warm welcome to respected Sri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury ji the Hon’ble Minster of State, Indian Railways and Robin Hood of Berhampur to Delhi Public School. I solicit the Honour of welcoming you Sir on behalf of Management of Delhi Public School Society, Management of DPS Bhagalpur, Angika Development Society that’s running this school in educational joint venture with DPS Society, students, faculty, staff and parents of this school and entire citizens of Bhagalpur for having accepted our invitation to come to Bhagalpur and benevolently declaring various Railway related development projects that would act as milestones in the destiny of this beautiful and historical town. It’s indeed a great personal obligation to my family and me Sir, for you being the Chief Guest in the Shaheed-e-Mumbai program that’s intended to educate the generation sitting across, who are our Nation builders of tomorrow. 

Sir your presence as Chief Guest today will certainly motivate these young students to perform their best and become Nation builders. Your words of encouragement would provide them a perspective of a prosperous India that they need to work towards on the premise of what we are doing today.  We also pray that soon Sri Chowdhury would become PCC President of West Bengal Congress, especially after the change in power dynamics in Bengal Congress and municipal elections, we anticipate that your dreams will surely come true very soon.

Sir, I would like to thank the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Sri Manmohan Singh ji for having responded to my letter of invitation through his office. I thank Mr. T.K.A.Nair, Advisor to Prime Minister and feel honored for the words of encouragement that he gave me while speaking to me personally over phone on the program Shaheed-e-Mumbai being staged. He also said that he would visit the school sometime later as he was occupied due to official engagements today. I am also honored to receive an e-mail from Mr. Gulshan Rai, Director General of CERT-In, Government of India on the today’s program.   

I extend my heartiest warm welcome to Madam Chowdhury, a family friend of ours who has spent a major part of her life abroad, studying to realize her dreams. She is an affectionate lady who critically understands the value of culture and integrity based education. She is a M.Tech herself and has ambitions to improve the standard of education in Berhampur by establishing a world class school like this.

I extend my heartiest welcome to Dr. S.D.Pradhan and Mrs. Rashmi Pradhan for having accepted our invitation to come to DPS Bhagalpur. I am really elated and personally honoured on having you Sir here amidst children. I would like share certain facts with all of you present here this evening.

Dr. Pradhan is a known and respected name not only in India’s intelligence Mechanism but is considered to be a thinker in India’s National Security system. Children he is the most respected person to me after my parents in this world.

Your school that majestically stands with string of laurels and achievements would not have come into existence if he would not have inspired, motivated and supported me in my effort. In March 2005 Dr. Pradhan, then an Additional Secretary in Prime Minister’s office along with another close friend of mine Mr. K.K.Mittal now an Additional Secretary in Culture Ministry had come to Bhagalpur accompanied with Mr. Narendra Kumar the then Chairman of DPS Society in a Chartered Flight. Prior to that when I was trying to form Angika Development Society he was the first person to agree to become a Member along with the then Director General of Police, Chatishgarh Mr. Ashok Darbari. They were the three friends who changed the course of my destiny that now stands guided by active involvement in education.

I had many friends then too in Indian bureaucracy like I have today but they were not sure whether my initiative would bring them a good name. If you recall Sir, in your office you had said “Rajesh agar tum convinced ho ke ye sahi decision hai to tum mera naam daal do as member aur main Pradhan Mantri ji se permission le lunga Angika Development Society ko join karney kay liye”. Late Mr. Brajesh Mishra ji was the then National Security Advisor and Sri Atal Bihari ji was the Hon’ble Prime Minister and the Angika Development Society was formed. 

Dr. Pradhan’s is a staunch Nationalist and doyen of Intelligence structure of India. He is one of the most respected brain in the Security establishment. He was actively involved in formation of India’s National Security Council on 19^th Nov 1998 under the recommendation of the then Dy. Chairman Planning Commission, late Sri K.C.Pant. Dr. Pradhan was also instrumental in formation of India’s only technical intelligence unit NTRO on the lines of NIA of US.

If my memory does not fail me Sir then in Sep 2005-06 he was one of the few person who strongly vouched for the long unattended demand of extra 15 percent salary allowance for people in government’s security establishment so that the silent soldiers of Nation could get acknowledged for their efforts that never witnesses light of the day. He is the person who convinced the then NSA to announce and it was done in RA&W’s raising day. An humanitarian with monumental values to the core.

I extend my heartiest welcome to friends, Mr. Jitendra Kumar the zonal IGP and Mr. Alok Vijayant, Director IDG in Prime Minister’s Office. I also extend my heartiest welcome to Mr. R. Gupta, Divisional Railway Manager, Mr. Raj Shekhar Murthy, Director NSD, Mr. Suman Chatterjee OSD and Mr. Sudip Dutta, APS, eminent guests, parents, friends from media and administration.

Sirs and madams you all have spared your precious time to attend today the “Shaheed-e-Mumbai” program that’s planned with a thought to educate our generation sitting here and thinking about 26/11’s Pakistan State sponsored Lashkar-e-Taiba’s terrorist attack on Mumbai on this day in 2008. Our purpose also is to spread the awareness and importance of India’s security in face of concerted terrorist infiltration and state sponsored terrorism let lose by our neighboring country Pakistan.

Sir, I am of the firm opinion that all the visible and simmering problems have roots in countries educational edifice. Education builds a nation and at times it does derail them when the priorities of education lurk in ulterior and unethical considerations. To understand any country, a visit to it’s educational priorities and infrastructure is good enough to draw a holistic picture. Every Nations’ journey in education involves culture, values, traditions, historical perspective, inherent pain, transparency in societal Sanskritisation, arising -cognitive dissonance, introspection in policies, identifying and negating the failures, downfall, prosperity, governance and reflection to the world.  

If a Nation through its policies in education, instills a belief in its teaching fraternity that the teachers are creators of society and are walking with the God in the classroom, believe you me Sir, half of the battle is won. I would like to cite examples from education system of Pakistan that has now become a fertile ground for churning out of extremists and terrorists and has lost vision of Quaid-e-Azam and Allama Iqbal.   

After the 18th Amendment Bill on 8^th April 2010 in Pakistani constitution, making education a provincial subject; the intensity of attack by Taliban and other terrorist organizations’ in Pakistan has increased many fold on educational institutions. The amendment 25A, Right to education inspired by India’s Right To Education Act that came into effect on 1^st April 2010, Pakistani National Assembly overwhelmingly amended article 25 and added “The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by law”.

The then Pakistani Prime Minister addressing Islamabad Model Schools for Boys and Girls on 17^th Aug 2011, Mr. Yusuf Raza Gilani said “once the Muslims were at the top in the world, mainly due to their progress in education”. He further added, “Lack of education was the main cause of the downward trend of the Muslims. Education was important for the progress and prosperity of the country, and added that illiteracy was the root-cause of extremism and terrorism”.

This desperate statement of Prime Minister of Pakistan signifies the important role that the educational edifice of Pakistan has played since its partition from India in transforming it into a rogue Nation. The terrorists in the tribal areas are targeting the educational institutions because they know the fact that only educated people could frustrate their nefarious designs.

Sir, I would like to correlate priorities in educational upbringing with one of the dreaded terrorist in the hit list of USA, Faziullah, we would have a clear answer on what role does education plays in making of a Nation. The newly coroneted Taliban Leader was an active member of a radical student organisation PSF of Pakistan Peoples Party. Early in his life, Faziullah found his sensibility being indoctrinated by Peoples Students Federation in the 80s, rooted in the populist leftism of Swat in the 1970s, has now come out fully blown in his character as one of the most dreaded chief of Taliban.

The current chief of the fundamentalist outfit Jamat-i-Islami’s, Munawar Hassan, was also an active member of the Marxist student outfit, the National Students Federation (NSF). Hassan not only quit NSF, but also became an active member of the Islami Jamiat Taleba (IJT), later going on to join the Jamat-i-Islami. Thus the man who last week declared the former head of the TTP, Hakeemullah Mashud, as a martyr, was reading and quoting Karl Marx as a medical student.

There are many such examples in Pakistan wherein hardcore terrorists came to power or are in power who had their educational upbringing and overdose in leftist fundamentalism during the subsequent dictatorships.

The killing of Hakeemullah Mehsud, Tehrik-i-Taliban chief recently in a drone attack and calling him a shaheed by Pakistan’s religious leaders has drawn a strong protest and resentment in Pakistani youth.  What kind of Nation the Pakistani politicos think of and what message they want to convey when an identified terrorist is declared “shaheed”. The impact on the tender minds of young generation seeing terrorist being conferred the honour of “shaheed” is going to be grave and the consequences to the world would be even much more damaging.

Sir, the Holy Quran emphatically uses the word and its variations “shaheed, shahid, shuhada” several times in its discourse. In ‘Surah Fath’, it addresses the Holy Prophet (PBUH) thus: “We have sent you as witness (shahid) of the truth, and harbinger of good news and a warner” (48:8).

The same expression has been used by God for the entire first generation of the companions of the Prophet in ‘Surah Baqarah’: “We have made you a (middle) people that you act as witness (shuhada) over man, and the Prophet as witness (shaheed) over you” (2:143).

Sir having understood the context of the usage of the term “Shaheed”, does it really apply to Hakeemullah Mehsud, an individual who was known and who proudly took responsibility for attacks that killed several innocent Muslims and non-Muslims? What would the present generation of Pakistan that idolizes guns and arms in games would learn from antecedents of Hakeemullah Mehsud? Will they not believe that “guns” can easily get them power, position and prosperity? What type of neighbor we foresee for these young generations of ours? Has India not been affected by the policies, practices and misdemeanor of Pakistan or will India remain isolated from consequences far beyond our imagination today?

Sir let us take the case of our own country. Indian society has suffered because of Macaulay based education system that breeds more of “babus” than “intellectual thinkers”. We as compulsion have become more of “silent onlookers” and at times have projected ourselves as “commentators and armchair critics” but not initiator of a “sustainable change”.

Our nation has best of brains in the world but we have not seen any invention-taking place, as our system is parasitic on an education policy that’s more than two century old. Let us ponder Sir, why there is mounting resentment, extremism and violence in areas where Missionaries are present or for that matter of fact educational institutions that are run by religiously controlled management? Where is the money generated by religion-based schools going? Why do we fear to look at issues that really ails our country? Is it not high time Sir that we need to question ourselves, what type of India we need for our future generations? Our today’s actions will define the country of tomorrow.

Sir we have to tailor our education system looking at our own Indian needs, social structure and not by aping others. Culture of a country is the intrinsic base of education system; our education has to be tailored keeping our rich Indian culture in mind.  No country in history has voluntarily changed its ethnic profile in short time as the United Sates has and now it’s battling for it’s own identity in world politics.

Let me apprise you that US has lost many wars in recent times as they do not have an “unifying patriotic culture” that would make their soldiers obsessive enough to win the adversary, be it Indochina War 1950-54, Air battle over Merklin 1953, Vietnam 1953-75, Laotian Civil War 1953-75, Lebanon Crisis 1958, Bay of Pigs Invasion 1961, Cambodian Civil War 1970-75, War in Somalia 2006-2009 and the ongoing ones in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Their primary and secondary education is tailored to create youngsters with “gun culture” and their faulty education system at formative stage has started showing results of a powerful Nation living in crisis. Sir, patriotism is a strong character of rich cultures like India and not of feeble societies where every human aspect is nothing but just another consideration in business. 

Sir, speaking in UN on 21^st November 2013 on The World Philosophy Day that has Auguste Rodin’s creation “The Thinker” as its cornerstone similar to our school, Tony Blair the former British Prime Minister said “broad based cross-cultural education is crucial to defeating terrorism, much of it fed by religious extremism, since security measures will not succeed alone”. Mr. Blair stressed that it is not just a question of mere educational attainment but of educating, but about diversity and difference, tolerance and respect, in the same way that the humanities, sciences and languages are taught.

The Bulgarian Director General of UNESCO Irina Bokova the first lady to head, appealed in her opening remark to every professional, author and teacher worldwide “to unleash the power of critical thinking”, and urged the international community to engage in reasoned dialogue to help find common challenges.

“This day is an invitation to rethink the conditions for inclusion and sustainability in societies that are increasingly diverse and ever more interconnected, between themselves and with their environment,” said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova in her message for the Day, which this year is on the theme “Inclusive Societies, Sustainable Planet.” Ms. Bokova added, recalling the message of Swami Vivekananda: “Rise at the expense of another! I did not come to earth for that!”

Sir incidentally the DG UNESCO and I share our birth dates, the 12^th July. Like these statesmen I too believe that education is no more just a way to earning a good life but we have to have an education system that opens one mind to others who are culturally and religiously different. We can no more leave education isolated just as a process of upbringing children. It has to become integral part of National Security apparatus of India that teaches these youngsters to respect others as equals and prepares youngsters to handle nitty-gritties of International Relations, actions and priorities that balances and leverages India’s presence in world economy and marshals India to strengthen it’s presence as a powerful sovereign Nation.  

We have to think, work and carve out an Education Policy that acts as an instrument to build peace and provides employment. Our educational infrastructure should be tailored in a manner that it protects, preserves and promotes the historical results of churnings of Indian society since time immemorial and catapults our beautiful country to the world forum as a superpower with ample resilience and capabilities to counter any aggression designed against us.  

Today, this day in 2008 roughly at 9.30 pm there was a well-coordinated attack by Lashkar-e-Taiba that shook Indian security structure to bones. 166 were killed and over 600 people left fatally injured. Ajmal Kasaab the lone terrorist who was captured live was sentenced to death by trial Court on 6^th May 2010 and was hanged on 21^st November 2012 at 7.30 am. With Kasaab’s hanging we Indians might have had a sigh of relief but how long did this relief really last requires active consideration. The most pertinent question that looms large, have we done enough to strengthen our Country’s security apparatus? Do we have an education system that’s oriented to create honest Nationalists with International imperatives? Perhaps not.

Sir, Peace may not last long in India, as the last of US troops would be going back from Afghanistan by middle of 2014. The recent shut down in US from 1^st Oct to 16^th Oct 13, is indication of a country where economy is in shambles. The huge amount it has to spend on protection of its  “critical infrastructure” due to mounting “cyber attacks”, in my considered opinion US is not in a position to continue with war in any country, anymore be it even in Afghanistan or Pakistan.

A pragmatic approach to the situation, however, comes down to the fact that a U.S. failure in Afghani­stan would lead to rise of Islamic radicalism in Af­ghanistan, and possibly the region, that Russia or for that matter of fact India would not be able to contain. A militant Islamic power in Afghanistan specially if controlled by Mullah Umar and ISI supported blue-eyed boy of General Ashfaq Qayani, Siraj Haqqani and his group could lead to a domino effect in the region.

Time when dangerous threat would reach as far as Rus­sia’s own borders and India will not be too off. If we realistically analyse Moscow’s relationship with Delhi, it is on the sur­face, a friendly one, but it lacks real substance and commitment beyond Russian military sales to India. A Taliban-controlled Kabul regime would encourage Central Asian Islamism and may again offer training camps to Chechen rebels and secessionist Indian radical elements.

Let us not forget that China has a friendly exchange of armies with Pakistan apart from arming the military to the tooth. Majority of infrastructure contracts in Pakistan is in the hands of Chinese companies.

On 18^th Feb 2013 Pakistan handed over Gwadar the strategic port to China. This change in hands of port from PSA (Port of Singapore Authority) Singapore to China is nothing but Pakistan’s response to the strengthening of its arch-rival India’s ties with the US by strengthening its ties with China. Construction of tunnels in Pakistani Occupied Kashmir and widening of roads in Khyber Pass, upgrading the Karakoram Highway is of critical significance to China, since this region offers Beijing a window to the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.

The significance of the Karakoram Highway lies in the fact that it cuts through the zone between Asia and the Indian subcontinent, wherein China, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan come within 250 km of each other. To me Sir, China is the most untrusted neighbor and their hidden agenda although visible to us but I am sorry to say that unfortunately we are not responding adequately to this concern.

Sir we have to rise and awaken to the demands of time or else our country will never forgive us for being in deep slumber and indecisive. We have to visit our Education Policy that now breeds “differential strata” of citizens. We have to have “One Country” in India and not multiple ones that could fall apart easily as “nine pins”. Situation in North Eastern states and the growth of Naxalism in Bihar, Jharkhand, Chatishgarh, Orissa and their reach now extending to three important states in South is a grim indicator of things to come. We have to address the “resentment” of Indians who have taken to guns and to me there’s no better solution than “proper education” and creation of opportunities.

Sir, we have enough indigenous talent but we lack a will to guide them.  Spending on products be it in defense or IT and creating market for US or for that matter of fact China is not going to help us in anyway. We may calm the “threat perception” for the time being but we need to have an India that challenges and overpowers every “unfriendly posture” with slightest of might.

To conclude my welcome speech I once again extend my heartiest welcome to you Hon’ble Minister Sir for having spared your precious time. I also extend my heartiest welcome to Madam Chowdhury, Dr. S.D.Pradhan, Mrs. Rashmi Pradhan, Mr. Jitendra Kumar, Mr. Alok Vijayant, Mr. Rajnish Gupta, friends and well wishers from Ministry of Railways, eminent dignitaries, guests, parents, district administration officials and media.

I am truly honored to have you all here today in DPS Bhagalpur. I am thankful to every one present here for having spared their valuable time and for having come here to encourage these young students and bearing with me with ample patience all through the welcome speech.

Jai Hind

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