The Canadian Parvasi - Issue 20

The International News Weekly INTERVIEW/OPED
09
November 10, 2017 | Toronto
Canada's Terry Fox inspired India's first
blade runner Major Devinder Pal Singh
By Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
PANAJI: For India's first bladerunner
Major Devinder Pal
Singh (retd), legendary Canadian
athlete Terry Fox was a greater
inspiration than world's most wellknown
prosthetics-enabled athlete,
South African Oscar Pistorious,
who is currently in prison for
murdering his girlfriend.
"I was not aware about Oscar
Pistorious when I started running.
Rather, Terry Fox is a much bigger
figure than Oscar. Of course,
nobody can match what Oscar has
done. But I can't say that I started
running because of him," Singh
told IANS on the sidelines of the JK
Cement Swachh Ability Run here
over the weekend.
The loss of a limb and a return
from the verge of the afterlife
during the 1999 Kargil War with
Pakistan, in fact, spurred Singh on
to a new ambition -- running the
marathon.
"Disability somehow motivated
me to take up running because
disabled people are not considered
good for anything. So I picked up
running because I don't have one
leg. This was so that I can convey
the message that having legs or
having mobility of body parts does
not lead to disability or ability.
"It is the mind which helps you
to do that. So to answer that if I go
for a long distance run without
a leg, you know I do not have to
speak. Automatically my actions
will speak," he explained. The JK
Cement Swachh Ability Run itself
is Singh's brainchild, who by
now has 25 marathons to
his credit.
Singh, who last
year made it to the
Limca Book of Records
for running a series
of marathons with a
prosthetic leg, said that
marathon-running is more
of a psychological war,
rather than a physical one.
Singh lost one of his
legs while in combat during
the Kargil war, where his
compartiots almost gave
him up for dead due to
excessive bleeding and
a cardiac arrest that he
suffered.
"It was not a big deal. I was
deployed on the Line of Control
with my men. We had to face
action every day. On one such day,
a mortar landed next to me and
disintegrated, with the shrapnel
piercing my body. There are still
50-odd bits embedded in my body,"
he said.
"Much of the shrapnel
had cut through me and I
was lying there profusely
bleeding. That is when
my team picked me
up and took me to
the hospital. I was
initially declared
dead because there
was heavy blood
loss and because of a
cardiac arrest. But I was
somehow revived by senior
specialists and that was the
beginning of my second life,"
Singh said.
The "second" life was, in
a way, inspired by Terence
Stanley Fox alias Terry Fox, a
marathon runner and cancer
awareness campaigner who
lost one of his legs in a car
accident. The former soldier now
wants more and more amputees
to take up marathon running in
order to encourage them and instil
confidence in their abilities.
Singh's group, 'The Challenging
Ones', which was a started in
2011, uses sports as a medium to
empower disabled people. In six
years, the group has built up a
membership of 1,400 amputees,
more than 500 of whom have
already participated in various
marathons across India.
"Someone asked me: 'Don't
you feel pain when you run?' The
answer is that a normal person also
feels pain in both legs. In my case,
it is one leg less to feel the pain. It is
all a mind game. You need to train
your mind more about which is
your biggest enemy and which is
your strongest strength," he said.
However, in the Indian
circumstances, it is still not cheap
to get a customised prosthetic
limb, he said, adding that there
needs to be a support system to
reduce their cost and make them
more accessible.
"State-of-the-art limbs are
available nowadays, but they are
very costly and not accessible to
humble people. The one which I
use for running costs around Rs 7-8
lakh," he said.
In the end, as Singh has often
proved, it's the spirit and not the
money that matters.
Priti Patel's exit won't affect Indian influence in Britain
By Anasudhin Azeez
LONDON: It was shocking
news for the Indian community
in Britain. The most
influential British-Indian
politician was ousted from
the government in an unceremonious
way. International
Development Secretary Priti
Patel was recalled from her
Uganda trip and forced to
submit her resignation for
breaching the ministerial
code of conduct.
What a fall! Just a few
days back, she was sort of in
the shoes of Prime Minister
Theresa May to welcome
guests at No 10 Downing
Street to celebrate Diwali. We
thought -- a Prime Minister in
waiting. A proud moment for
the 1.5 million Indian-origin
British citizens. We are getting
closer and closer to the
epicentre of British power.
Former Prime Minister David
Cameron's prophecies will become
a reality very soon. But
that hope was shattered.
Patel, a former Indian
diaspora champion and a
Pravasi Bharatiya Puraskar
awardee, became a victim of
her own actions. Surprisingly
nobody was there to mourn
for her. Neither any party colleagues
like MP Alok Sharma
or the influential Conservative
Friends of India. Her
departure won't affect India's
influence in the power corridors,
because the post-Brexit
Britain needs India more than
India needs Britain. Patel was
hiding behind the Ministerial
Code of Ethics when India
was humiliated by pro-Pakistani
Members of Parliament
over the Kashmir issue.
She never supported
repeated calls from Indian
leaders to relax visa rules for
Indian students. Patel even
campaigned to tighten the
visa rules for foreign chefs at
curry houses. That caused the
closure of hundreds of restaurants
across the country. She
was silent when hundreds
of immigrants were racially
abused on the streets just after
the EU referendum. Who
cares about immigrants when
they are not part of your constituency?
With a majority of
27,000 plus votes, Patel was
quite comfortable with her
agenda.
She burned all her bridges
to fulfil a personal agenda to
reach No. 10. India was on the
back burner whereas Israel
and its powerful lobby with
plenty of money at its disposal
came on the agenda. Indians
are top on the British rich list,
but they will think twice to
open their cheque book. Some
of them are already in trouble
over political donations for
personal favours. Without a
Godfather or backing from
any senior leaders, Patel's fate
was sealed when the first report
exposed her unscheduled
meeting with Israeli leaders.
The first justification from
her was that it was a private
holiday and some private
meetings.
Later the picture was
clear. A private summer holiday
accompanied by an Israeli
lobbyist and 12 meetings with
Israeli ministers and top officials.
Then came the shocking
news. A private meeting with
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Poor May. She came to
know about the meeting,
when the Israeli Prime Minister
arrived at No. 10 with
an entourage for an official
reception. That forced Patel to
file an apology.
In the Commons, Foreign
Office minister Alistair Burt
said that Downing Street regarded
the matter "as closed"
after Patel was reprimanded
by the Prime Minister and
reminded of her obligations
under the ministerial code.
But the report of her another
unscheduled meeting with
another Israeli minister triggered
a major crisis. That put
May in trouble. Patel conducted
two meetings in September
without the presence of any
government officials. One of
the meetings was with Israeli
Public Security Minister Gilad
Erdan in Westminster on
September 7. Israelis got what
they wanted, but Britain has
no clue about what they discussed.
It is thought Lord Polak,
honorary President of the
Conservative Friends of Israel,
was present at both the
meetings. That sealed Patel's
fate. There are three lessons
to learn from Patel's fall. Ambition
is good, but over ambition
is fatal. Second, if you
want to succeed, you have to
abide by the rules, especially
the ministerial code of conduct.
The last one is -- if you
want to go fast, go alone. But,
if you want to go far, go together.
Patel paid the price for not
being part of the community
despite her ethnic surname or
upbringing. The Brexit campaign
was the finest example.
When most of the Indian community
and its leaders were
campaigning and supporting
Cameron to remain in the EU,
she challenged the arguments
by aligning with the rightwing
media and right-wing
politicians.
She was the poster girl of
the "Leave" campaign and that
undermined the credibility of
her mentor Cameron. Patel
was a creation of Cameron. He
was promoting her along with
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi to
woo the Indian and Pakistani
voters. Both worked hard to
promote the Cameron agenda
to reach No. 10. The strategy
clicked. When Sayeeda was
honoured with a cabinet berth,
Patel was assigned to a junior
treasury post.
The immigrant voters in
Britain are usually loyal to the
Labour Party. But Cameron
doubled the ethnic vote share
within five years in the government.
That helped him to
retain power in 2015. He was
expecting support from the
entire A Team, including Patel
and Foreign Secretary Boris
Johnson in his EU Referendum
campaign. Despite differences,
most of the Tory leadership,
except jilted leaders like
Michael Gove, were pitching
for "Remain" in the EU. Patel
was the first one to jump ship.
There was speculation about
Patel at Westminster. But she
rejected every allegation calling
them "mere speculations".
Just after the announcement
of the Referendum date,
Patel was among the first
batch of Tories to reach the
Leave Campaign headquarters
to offer allegiance. Cameron
was betrayed. He was
planning to anoint Chancellor
George Osborne to the prime
post in 2020.
To maintain the gender
balance and a move to snub
Labour for not appointing Harriet
Harman as Deputy Prime
Minister to Gordon Brown, Patel
was earmarked for a senior
post -- probably the deputy
Prime Ministership. But she
spoiled that opportunity by
leaving the Cameron camp.
After losing the referendum,
Cameron left No. 10 to
pave the way for May. Patel
was promoted to the cabinet
as International Development
Secretary to handle the 12 billion
pound UK aid budget.
There are many allegations
over the spending of the UK
aid. Some part of it will end up
in the coffers of corrupt politicians
in Asia and Africa. People
were expecting that Patel
will use her budget diligently.
But she was offering a slice of
that to the Israeli Army.
By visiting Golan Heights,
she undermined the British
stance of neutrality on the
Arab-Israeli conflict during
the centenary of the Balfour
declaration. At just 45, a bright
young Indian-origin politician
has spoiled her opportunity to
get into one of the most powerful
positions in the world.
What a shame.
(Anasudhin Azeez is Editor
of London-based Asian
Lite. He can be reached at
azeez@asianlite.com)