Competition is good. Walmart Is Not.

Competition is good. It always leads to improvement all around. But is has to be a fair one. Unfair competition leads to destruction of the norm. Examples are all around us. However, the world is not a fair place. That and human nature together has led to protectionism. Even the most prosperous countries and largest economies indulge in just that. The US is known to give their farmers massive subsidies. The Chinese manipulate their currency to gain the upper hand. We would expect our government to do the same to protect our traditional ways of doing business instead of creating unfair competition. What Prof. Vaidyanathan said last year (we wrote a blog on this topic last year) was that the GoI needs to protect our dhoti-clad entrepreneur instead of subjecting them to a competition, which they are not equipped to deal with. The local shopkeeper can compete with the others in the market but is not equipped to deal with some outfit like the Walmart. That is what the point of discussion is.

If leeches were to evolve into sophisticated predators, that being would aptly describe the Walmart. What I have read is that it began as a store, which only sold stuff, made in America as a response to the Japanese domination of the production sector. But then they evolved into a company which did what the Japanese were doing except they raised that practice to an art. Today everything sold in Walmart is made in China. The Walmart executives use their financial muscles to bully all involved to keep the prices ridiculously low. By this they have driven everyone around out of business. The Corporation, the buyers and the Chinese owners are the winners. However, the American manufacturers and American small business owners have been destroyed. The Americans have managed to survive by other means being a powerful and (still) an upwardly mobile economy. Innovation supported by (still the best) an infrastructure. India and Indians do not have the same advantages.

If we bring in Walmart, we will be flooded with Chinese made stuff at prices which would destroy our small businessmen and manufacturers. As Prof. Vaidyanathan says:

More than 125 lakh kirana stores provide a source of livelihood to 16 crore people. Retail trade has grown faster than the economy: it registered a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.4% between 2004-05 and 2008-09 when the Indian economy grew at 8.66%. The retail trade comprises all kinds of people and formats — from street vendors to departmental stores of various types, shapes and characteristics.

This segement of our economy deserves all the protection we can get. They keep jobs and money in India. Walmart will send the jobs to China and money to America. Manmohan and Montek Singh need to pull their heads out of American made sand and smell the “chai”.
Our blog and Prof. Vaidya's article can be read here.

Why Would A Peaceful Indian Slap Sharad Pawar?

You get older. It is expected that you will evaluate your life. What you are trying to do is to look for the things you would not have done but did anyway. It is called atonement. We all want to go into our next life with as little baggage as possible. If you are not a Hindu then you want to meet the maker with similar liability. That is how a normal human being behaves. Of course if you are a sociopath who is completely lacking the empathy gene, the kind of person who looks at misery and death with an amused curiosity, the kind of person who cannot tell “paap” from “punya” or right from wrong then retrospection is not your cup of tea.

Based on this one would expect our politicians, especially the ones who are getting up in age to look at the man in the mirror once in a while. I don’t think these guys do that. If they did then their morality will change, seismically in some cases. However, no one has changed. Every single one of them is the same person they were. The only conclusion we have is that all of them are amoral sociopaths. Not very comforting, is it?

There is some recourse left for the aam aadmi. Voting them out is one. But that would bring the next set of bastards in. Then what? Even though I do not condone violence, one cannot overlook the extreme importance of symbolic acts of violence, the kind that humiliates rather than hurt. Hurling a slipper or lashing out with a slap. Indian society and others used to do that. When a person was caught doing something immoral they were made to sit on a donkey with shoes around their neck. In the west, they used to tar and feather. Since our politicians are sociopaths who enjoy and love their facade of respectability, shame would be a powerful punishment. It would send an unmistakable message that not all is right even if you scream so.

In that light, one can see why Indians who are by and large the most peaceful people on the planet would take the extreme step of lashing out on fellow human beings. The protest against politicians used to be limited to negative “naarey-baazi” or sloganeering. However, in the last two UPA regimes, things have gone form extremely bad to putrid. Even the most peaceful and laid back India is getting angry and feels pushed into the corner. One such Indian lashed out and slapped Sharad Pawar who epitomizes institutionalized corruption. Of course in this case, my sympathy and I am sure yours as well lie with our Sikh brother who took this extreme step. I hope that we all would come out in support of our brother if he were to be tortured or punished in any other unlawful way.

Meanwhile I hope this is a lesson for all of the Indian politicians. I hope they realize that in today’s India, drug dealers and petty criminals have much higher credibility than them. If they do not get their act together, the aam aadmi reserves the right to come after them with pitch forks and other farm equipment like the medieval times. They are the ones responsible for these times.

An article on the subject can be read here.

Samudra Manthan In The Pacific

A few things have happened in the Pacific which seem unremarkable and expected. Their significance is revealed upon close inspection. I will list them for you.

1.China has become increasingly belligerent with its neighbors in the Pacific. They want all of the resource rich Spratley Islands to themselves.

2.They also want to control the sea lanes around those islands including the ones in Malacca straits. An Indian navy ship was bullied by the Chinese navy in that area.

3.They have abandoned Deng Xiaoping’s peaceful rise mantra. After his death, the leadership ceded a lot of power to the PLA who are now flexing their muscles, trying to take revenge on all who have slighted them recently or historically. Chinese rise is now anything but peaceful.

4.Japan has gotten over India’s nuclear tests and are now ready to deal with us even on defense matters.

5.India is an important defense partner with Vietnam, the country which gave the Chinese a bloody nose in 1979. Our “Look East” policy has paid good dividends.

6.Suddenly the Australians have decided to overcome their revulsion for us and sell us Uranium.

7.In a summit in Bali and in Australia, President Obama repeatedly asserted that the US was and is a Pacific power. He repeated it many times.

8.US has decided to open a US Marine base in Northern Australia.

Let me try to weave all these seemingly disparate events into what is about to become the new alliance (albeit a loose one). In 2000, President Bush and his VP proposed to revive SEATO (South East Asia Treaty Organization) which included countries like Australia, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. A sort of the Asian NATO. It dissolved in 1977. The primary purpose of the revival was to counter any threats from China. After all, the events mentioned in points 1 to 3 are now exactly new. They just have become more obvious now. This time, India was to have played a major role. Unfortunately for us and the world, 9/11 happened and the Bush administration’s attention got diverted. The proposal died. Since then the Chinese behavior has gone from bad to worse. All their neighbors are worried to scared. The Chinese have spared no opportunity is confronting the US in the Pacific. It is as if the PLA WANTS a showdown with the US to establish what they perceive as their place in the hierarchy of nations. They are itching for a fight.

None of this is lost on the US who are still the biggest military power in the world. They realize that all of the Chinese neighbors are worried especially India. They are right. We are surrounded by Pakistan who is a Chinese attack dog, Bangladesh who is one election away from becoming another Pakistan, Burma who is already in Chinese pocket and the Sri Lankans who feel slighted by Tamilnadu politicians have accommodated the Chinese navy in the Hambantota seaport. We could use some help here.

Now why do you think that the Australians have had a change of heart about Uranium? I think that there must have been some pressure from the US. Why would the US want to help India? I think that Indian involvement in any new security arrangement is inevitable. After all, after China, we are the strongest nation in Asia. Without us, the dragnet around China will be incomplete. Does this mean we are preparing for a fourth world war? No. What we are preparing for is another cold war where we make the Chinese realize the wisdom of the Deng Xiaoping. The Chinese have way too much invested in the rest of the world to provoke a situation conducive to the fourth big one.

So what should we do? We should look back at the days of NAM and our international isolation. We should push the boundaries of our “Look East” policy. Since there will not be any formal SEATO like organization, the risk is next to nothing. As it is we are making defense pacts with Vietnam and Japan and that has not gone down the Chinese throats well. Might as well make more pacts of that kind. There is a quite “Samudra Manthan” going on in the pacific. I hope that Government of India would shun any noise from the leftists and join in.

Who Cares For The Pakistani Hindus?

Manmohan says Gilani is a man of peace. Pakistanis are saying they want to do business with us and want to resolve all the issues. Liberals and jholawalas are happy. Yup. All the problems have been solved. Manmohan’s charm offensive is finally paying dividends.

Now where have we seen all this before? It seems life a formulaic Hindi movie where brother unite at the end. Alas those are movies and some of them were even funny. This is real life. Those who can see are shaking their heads in disgust. If you scroll down, you will see that we wrote on this blog about this very topic. We are falling for the wily Pakistanis again for the umpteenth time. Pakistanis need to have peace on the eastern from to deal with the Americans. When the US leaves Afghanistan, the pakis will go back to their original selves. I would be willing to bet some money on that. Why? I will try to explain. Please forgive my meandering but I have to make my case.

Recently, some prominent Hindus in Pakistan were gunned down. In Sindh area, Hindu girls have been kidnapped, forcibly converted and married off to Muslims. Hindus in Lahore area have adopted Muslim names to survive. The 12% Hindus in Pakistan at the time of partition is now down to 2%. They were either killed or converted. Hindus who come to India do not want to go back. Why is that? If the pakis claim to be who they are then why would the Hindus need to live like this? After all, even in the scary badlands of Gujarat that is ruled by the devil himself (i.e. Bhai Narendra) Muslims are not only living well but also prospering. They do not call themselves Hindu names or are afraid that their women would be forcibly converted.

As much as the pakis would like to harp upon the secular credentials of Jinnah, the fact is that he was an opportunistic, “al taqqiya” practicing bastard. People who followed him are worse. In fact the downward spiral achieved Dante’s Inferno like status during Zia ul Haq days. Now of course it is pure hell. Forget the Hindus, the terrorists are not even sparing the few remaining moderate Muslims. How did this happen? As we wrote on this blog last year and as was written by Amir Mir to no ones surprise that the Pakistani textbooks are teaching hatred. This kind of systematic brainwashing has now polluted at least the last two or three generations of pakis. The paki polity and the army are filled with these terrorist automatons. How can we even think of achieving peace with this kind of ideology permeating through various layers of paki society?

Does that mean we should abandon attempts to at least achieve a functional peace. We should not. We should communicate with them. Speak softly but carry a huge stick. Go in with eyes ears and brains open and closed hearts. Emotions should never enter the picture. Leave the “mere dushman mere bhai” sentiments to the idiots from Bollywood.

In the interim, what do we do about the remaining Hindus in Pakistan? Or for that matter Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and elsewhere? For that I propose the Israel model. India is the only country for Hindus, political secularism aside. We can migrate to the west but at the end of the day, it is the only place for us. For the Hindus of the world, we should open our borders. If they can establish their ancestral roots in India, then they should be welcomed with open arms. India should be the lighthouse for the Hindus who are lost at sea. This goes double for our hapless brothers and sisters from Pakistan. GoI should not only let them live here but also help them make a life here.

The following articles are of interest:

http://thenethindu.blogspot.com/2010/09/pakistani-history-textbooks.html

http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-how-pakistani-textbooks-pollute-innocent-minds/20111116.htm

http://zeenews.india.com/news/south-asia/three-hindus-killed-in-pakistan_740551.html

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/86879/unwilling-return.html

Let Modi Campaign in UP

In any organization, there are those who rise because of hard work and capability. Then there are those who rise on charm, oratory and proximity to the right people. The latter may do very well but will never ever earn the respect of the middle to lower level leaders and grassroots workers. That is because the respect has to be earned. It does not come with the post. That is why you would find the latter kind are disciples of Machiavelli who famously said: It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both. The Gandhi family is that way. The BJP also have their share of these false prophets. You have people like Arun Jaitley in top positions despite of never having won any election personally. Whenever he has been in charge of a BJP campaign in a state election, the results have been less than pretty. Then we have Nitin Gadkari who seems to be the BJP’s poor answer Digvijay Singh (there is no one like Digvijay Singh) who seems to be busy shooting of his mouth instead of making good decisions in a quite and effective manner.

As far as the former kind are concerned, I have been telling my friend Swami Thambi that at the end of the day no matter what the perceived baggage, Bhai Narendra Modi is the tallest leader the BJP has. He has earned the respect of the middle and lower tier leaders along with the workers. He has done that by being a performer and a winner. During the elections in Bihar, the party workers wanted him to campaign. Of course Nitish Kumar who still has pretensions of being a secular leader snubbed him. Now in UP which is the most crucial reaction facing the BJP, the local leaders and workers want Modi to campaign. However, Gadkari is not only keeping him out but have made a Modi baiter in charge of UP elections even though the man has little to do with UP. Gadkari is justifying this with the elusive Muslim votes in mind. As per a report this is what a BJP MLA from eastern UP said:

"Are the Muslims dying to vote the BJP? Modi has a tremendous ability to motivate our cadres, our hard-core backers and even some of the floating voters. He's an asset."

Though dripping with sarcasm, the statement rings true. Muslims in Gujarat may vote for Modi because then benefit from him directly. However, Muslims in the rest of the country are a brainwashed lot thanks to the efforts of the pseudo secular politicians, media and their own leaders. THEY WILL NEVER EVER VOTE FOR THE BJP. That is why the BJP should try to mobilize their Hindu base and ensure a maximization of Hindu votes in their favor. Who better to mobilize that base than Modi? That should be more than enough to capture UP or any other state. Gadkari should worry more about the party’s success and less about his own fat ego. I hope that he does not end up cutting his nose to spite his face.

BJP fails to finalize candidates' list for UP

“A sulking Katiyar is not the only problem. A debate has begun on whether Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi would be enlisted in the campaign. Gadkari — who virtually snapped communication with Modi after the Gujarat chief minister did not attend the BJP's last national executive—reportedly told confidants that he would be a "liability" in a state with close to 20 per cent Muslim population.”

Rahul, Mayawati Aur UP Ka Tamasha

Mayawati has to win UP elections next year. The post of CM gives her power to manipulate the UP polity to her advantage in 2014. She needs her 35 plus MPs for her political survival and staying out of jail. I am sure she does not want to suffer like Jagan Reddy. The UPA already has her tied neatly to the Taj Corridor scam. Of course the way she has run UP, scams are not going to be hard to unearth to implicate her. That is why she is going to do whatever it takes to win next year. No trick is too cheap. No low is too low to achieve. She is a master manipulator of caste politics. Just like Lalloo Yadav was in his heydays. She has wrestled the Dalit-Muslim-Brahmin votebank from the Congress. While she was busy building parks in her honor, some of her flock went astray. She has now started to work on bringing them home. Her latest cheap trick is to promise reservation for the upper caste poor. Wow! The slice of the pie for qualified people continues to get smaller and smaller. How the hell is one going to qualify for being upper caste poor? What is upper caste? Of course the logistics are unimportant because all this is an election ploy, never to be implemented. She just has to make it believable enough for the ignorant voter to fall for it. Similar tricks and social engineering has already begun in her camp.

On the Congress side, Rahul Gandhi has failed miserably whichever state election he has managed. So miserable has been his performance that even Digviajy Singh has denied being his mentor. Inside reports have indicated that the senior Congressmen find him “un-coachable”. For him to have any fair claim over the throne, he has to have Congress do well in UP next year. The cost of failure would be an abject loss of credibility amongst the non-family-loyal Congress personnel, the number of whom seems to be growing. Of course, he hopes that the victory in UP will lead to a Congress comeback in 2014. They need the lion’s share of the 80 plus MPs from UP. They have already bungled up their chances in Andhra. Haryana is no longer a sure bet. NCP is flexing their muscle in Maharashtra. Skeletons after skeletons keep stumbling out of the Congress closet in Rajasthan. You see, UP is extremely important for Rahul’s survival as a viable Congress leader. Just like Mayawati, the Congress are also not going to stop from using all and every means to win UP next year.

The BJP need to win in UP because the loss of Hindi heartland has essentially relegated them to the opposition benches forever. To win they have sought the help of Uma Bharati who was brought back from a “van-vaas”. She is suppose to attract the Lodh community votes. Apparently those votes are like the Lingayat community votes in Karnataka. Of course, the BJP who are known to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory are still haunted by the specter of Advani who is refusing to go away. I am sure they will find some way of losing in UP again.

Of course sensing the advantageous position they are in, the UP Muslims have started to clamor for reservation for Muslim Dalits. Isn’t a term like Muslim dalit a contradiction in terms? Are not all Muslims same? By branding some of their flock as dalit, are they not going against tenets of their Prophet? Of course, even the hypocrisy of Indian Muslim leadership fails to explain it all.

We on this blog have always felt that the large number of MP’s from UP make it a prize big enough for political parties to find more corrupt and sleazier ways to win it. As we can see it, the tamasha in UP has already begun. We need to take care lest we shake our heads in disgust so much that we get whiplashes.

Of course we can always pray to Bholenath that the UP voters have their Bihar moment next year. After all, our Bihari brothers and sisters threw out lalloo. I am sure the UP voters can do the same for the future of their children. Their's is already ruined.

Modi In China. Manmohan In Maldives.

The US denied Narendra Modi entry into the country. The State Department got bullied by the liberals. China received Modi. They don’t care about liberals. They care about business. They received Modi as they would a leader of stature. Of course with the Chinese involved, I always get suspicious. But the is not the point here. The points in my view are as follows.

1. The mainstream media ignored Modi’s visit even though it bothered the hell out of the leftists. After all how can their grand daddy be nice to a vile man such as Modi!! Anything that bothers the leftists must be OK. This is what was said in a blog on Rediff: In fact, actor Shabana Azmi, known for close Leftist links, is said to have called up a senior Left leader to find out whether they were doing something about it. She was, of course, told that Modi’s visit was something between two governments and Indian Communists should make no noise. The Left’s unstated irritation is that, despite being targeted by them for the 2002 riots, Modi managed to impress his hosts

2. The visit bothered the liberal rag, Times of India which was expecting him to abandon his Hindu nationalistic ideology in favor of Chinese business. Much to their surprise / chagrin Modi spoke clearly about the Chinese army’s presence in PoK and Pakistani perfidy amongst other seemingly contentious issues. This is a remarkable departure from the usual timid Indian response to the Chinese. Now there is a leader with guts and gumption.

3. Bengal used to be the most prosperous and industry driven state. That was before the commies took over. Now it is a shell of its former self. Going from 224,132 man-days lost because of strikes in 2001 and lockouts in 53 establishments in the same year, Gujarat by 2010 had a mere 41,128 man-days lost and 18 strikes and lockouts.
Of course this stat does not include the strikes backed by the commies in the rest of the country. Who can forget the all India Bandh called by the commies during the UPA-1 when they were in power. I don’t even know how many man-hours were lost.

4. The list of proposals from China for Gujarat is very impressive. It is such that one can start talking about Sino-Gujarat ties rather than Sino-India ties. Now the delusional leftists would give the credit to the hard working Gujaratis but the fact remains that the Gujaratis have always been hardworking. They have never had a leader of Modi’s caliber. Now they are shining. It is really refreshing that Bhai Narendra Modi is not depending upon the central government for foreign businesses. He is bringing in investments despite of them. In fact what he is doing for his state should be a model for what should be done for India.

5. However, if you compare his visit with Manmohan Singh’s visit to the Malidives. You will really wonder why we have Singh as a PM and not Modi. Singh committed one blunder after another. Not to be outdone by his boss, SM Krishna who was only too happy to shake Hina Rabbani Khar’s hand showed clearly that Indian Foreign Ministry has fallen for the Pakistani ploys of getting India off their backs while they deal with the US pressures and drone attacks.

The importance of Narendra Modi's visit to China
The success of Gujarat has today put it in a place where it can negotiate and navigate international relations of direct economic consequence to it without being held back by the timidity in New Delhi, says Shashi Shekhar.

Narendra Modi in Beijing, tells China 'Pakistan is making use of you'
Modi also questioned the wisdom of a Chinese transformer maker, TBEA, displaying a wrong map of India at a function in New Delhi, which resulted in a sharp exchange of words between a journalist and Chinese ambassador in India, Zhang Yan. Gujarat government is worried about the controversy because it has signed a Rs 2500-crore contract with the Chinese company.

Here is the article about the leftist response to Modi's visit.

Andhra Pradesh: Congress’ Cash Cow

When it comes to bribing politicians, it is a prudent policy to bribe both sides. So to think that the Reddy brothers were sharing their loot with the BJP brass in Karnataka is completely wrong. Some of the money had to have gone to the other side. It turns out that a lot of money was given to YSR Reddy. His son is getting investigated for very large amount of money which was given to the family by Reddy brothers.

If you look at the richest MPs in India, most of them come from Andhra and all of them belong to Congress. Most of them are in real estate. It smells, don’t you think? Don’t you think these guys do contribute to the Congress coffers? After all, the Congress spent over 400 crores in the 2009 general elections. That amount of money cannot be anyone’s hard earned cash. For the Congress, Andhra has been a state which gives them the most MPs and money. A true cash cow indeed!

Wikipedia cables showed that the corruption in Andhra during YSR’s days was higher than the rest of the country. That, folks, should tell you something. YSR, Jagan and Vijayamma, with Hindu sounding names, tilak on the forehead, saffron string (known by various names in different states) on their wrists while displaying obscenely large cross on their obscenely expensive home have been taking the Andhra aam aadmi for a ride all these years. They would still be enjoying their loot if they had toed the Gandhi family line. After all they were a source of money and are Christians. Who would wish them ill in Congress. Yet, some boneheaded moves later, Jagan is finding himself on the defensive. Right thing is happening for the wrong reason. I hope the Andhra voters are watching this closely and will reject these criminal demagogues.

In case of his arrest, Jagan has Plan B ready!
Jagan has told his party workers that in case he is arrested, they should ensure that a large number of Congress MLAs defect to his party. His mother Vijayamma will lead the party in his absence. Vijayamma has a personal connection with many Congress MLAs dating back to the days when her husband, the late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy , was leading the party. Vijayamma's presence at the helm of affairs may prompt as many as 20 YSR loyalists to leave the Congress and join Jagan's party. These candidates were handpicked by YSR and he had campaigned extensively for them before the polls. Vijayamma had been present at her husband's side during these campaigns and she shares a special bond with them.
The article can be read at:http://www.rediff.com/news/report/in-case-of-his-arrest-jagan-has-plan-b-ready!/20111104.htm

Graft during YSR rule in AP was above norm in India: US cableShare
A leaked diplomatic cable dispatched by the US consul general in Chennai in 2007 had nailed the then Congress government in Andhra Pradesh, headed by Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, for "widespread corruption that was beyond the pale" even for India. In the name of social programmes targeted at common man, the YSR government had engaged in corruption 'beyond the norm for India,' Wikileaks said, quoting the cable. The YSR government's 'flagship programmes' – construction of irrigation projects and houses for weaker sections – were beset with corruption even as Rajasekhara Reddy used the populist spending programmes to great political effect, the cable said.
"Typically, five to seven per cent is lost to corruption, but in Reddy's irrigation programme that figure is more like 15 to 20 per cent," he said. While the housing programme will cost $4 to 6 billion, the irrigation programme costs more than $11 billion over five years on 26 major irrigation projects, the US cable said.
The article can be read at : http://www.indianexpress.com/news/graft-during-ysr-rule-in-ap-was-above-norm-in-india-us-cable/846643/0

What If Narendra Modi Says “Sky Is Blue”?

Normally we do not refer to other blogs but one of them caught my eye which flummoxed me. The author seems to suggest that Mamta Banerjee needs to learn from Jayalalitha. The article has been written in the wake of a large number of infant moralities in Poschim Bongo hospitals. The author says the following:

One wonders whether Mamata can learn a tip or two from Jayalalithaa — at least when it come to governance. When children die in Bengal hospitals, Mamata can’t think of anything but blame the Marxists! But look at Jayalalithaa. Her politics of putting down her political rivals, the DMK, also includes creating better hospital care in Tamil Nadu!
Jayalalithaa on November2 announced that the modern Anna centenary library in Chennai, a multi-crore project of the earlier DMK government, will be converted into a super speciality paediatric hospital. The library would shift to a new integrated intellectual park to be housed in an alternative site in the city.

The is giving way too much credit to Jayalalitha. After all who has forgotten her own financial transgressions. She is not an honest person. Of course compared to the DMK crew, she is a light weight, thus lesser of the two evils and hence elected. When it comes to Mamta B, we have repeatedly written on this blog that she is great in an opposition position but not in the ruling seat. She is a rabble rouser who thrives on blaming others. All of her administrative moves have not shown any initiative, imagination or decisiveness. She is good at blackmailing the UPA into giving her state money and state run projects for job creation. She can blame the Commies now but soon she will have to own up to the status quo in the state.

Coming back to Jayalalitha and her so called good governance, she is no statesperson or even a leader. She is as corrupt as any of the politicians and as vain as Mayawati. But she does know what works and what will get her re-elected. She is taking pages out of Nitish Kumar’s books. But to her credit, she is unabashedly emulating Bhai Narendra Modi. She does not shy away from associating herself with him as opposed to the pseudo secular crowd who would treat the plague better than they would Modi. Mamta Banerjee should learn from Modi just like Jayalalitha. The blogger who wrote the article in question seems to have overlooked that.

So what if Narendra Modi said that the sky was blue? Will the pseudo secular crowd dispute that? The point is, our religion and culture encourages adopting wisdom no matter what the source. Modi is doing a lot of good things for his state. Don’t t bring the man down. Study his methods. Adopt his methods. Adopt his policies. Emulate his work ethics. Put your own state on a path to success. People of India deserve that. What they do not deserve is dealing with petty egos of corrupt politicians.

One would have thought that all the education that our PM has had, he would be above the usual Congress / regional party / liberal churlishness. But an article by the intrepid Kanchan Gupta suggests otherwise. It seems that Modi was the head of the Working Group on Consumer Affairs with the Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu as other members. As Mr. Gupta says:

The committee was set up in April 2010 to suggest ways and means of holding the price line for essential commodities. By early this year, the report was finalised and it has been gathering dust in some corner of the Prime Minister’s Office for the past six months. It’s not a voluminous report crammed with senseless data and meaningless jargon. That’s not Mr Modi’s style. It’s a slim report which lists 20 recommendations with 64 detailed actionable points for their expeditious implementation.

If you read Mr. Gupta’s article, you will realize that the suggestions are eminently possible to adopt and implement. However, because it comes from Modi, it has been cast aside. Probably thrown in trash. Food prices have gone up so much that one cannot even make jokes about it. Forget the much talked Indian prosperity trickling down to the aam aadmi. Let them at least get one proper meal a day. How about a little heart and compassion? People making Rs 32 are not even being considered poor. Being a poor in India is worse than being a criminal because life has become a punishment.

Mr. PM, if implementing Mr. Modi’s suggestions can alleviate some of that pain, please – in the name of all things good, adopt them. Alleviating hunger would make for a better legacy than chasing the mirage of a friendship with the Pakistanis.

The blog about Mamta B and Jayalalitha can be read at:http://blogs.rediff.com/dillichaat/2011/11/02/why-cant-mamata-learn-from-jayalalithaa/

KanchanGupta’s op-ed can be read at:http://www.dailypioneer.com/component/content/article/400-coffee-break/16472-namo-proposes-pm-disposes.html

Indian F1 Circuit and Bhagwan Buddh

Leave it to the BBC and foreigners to lament Indian poverty and pose this question: How will the Grand Prix change India? We leave it to them because it is too painful for us to search for an honest answer. I will step forward with my two paisas and say that it will change nothing for the aam aadmi. The cost of this abomination is $400 million dollars. It was made on land which was taken from landowners who were compensated well. However, the poor landless farmers who used to work on that land are now out of a job. The last race is over. Indian glitterati have had their fun. Bharat Ratnas like Sachin Tendulkar (who recently moved into a modest 70 crore house) was there as well. Metallica, Lady Gaga and Shahrukh Khan had a ball. But now what?

The car circuit was made under Behenji Mayawati’s care. She named it after Bhagwan Buddh. Yes. The same guy who was of the opinion that:

“Greed is one of the Three Poisons that lead to evil (akusala) and that bind us to suffering (dukkha). It also is one of the Five Hindrances to enlightenment.”

Is it not ironic that such a testament to greed and ego was named after a man whose teachings are an exact opposite. But what can we expect from a woman who has a private road to office, has seven cooks, two tasters, shoes flown in on private planes and an obscene amount of wealth. We have a park costing hundreds of crores opened in the name of dalit pride and a car racing circuit in the name of divine man of peace and extreme enlightenment. One could choke on this kind of irony.

While something of this sort is expected from our politicians, what does it say about the people who paid Rs 2500 to watch cars burn fossil fuel at an extremely high rate. If the foreigners can see the dichotomy of having an F1 circuit and poverty outside why can we not see it? Have we become numb to it? Have we accepted it as part of our lives and national landscape? Because if we have then the solution to this problem will elude us and it will continue to grow until it engulfs us all.

How will the Grand Prix change India?
By Andrew North BBC South Asia Correspondent, Delhi
Proof, says Vijay Mallya, the billionaire co-owner of India's F1 team, of the growing disposable income of India's "aspirational middle class".The private Indian company, Jaypee International, has been trumpeting its success in getting the new Buddh International Circuit, as it is known, outside Delhi, ready on time. Jaypee chairman Jaiprakash Gaur predicts the Grand Prix will banish "the shameful memories" of the chaos and corruption that marred last year's Commonwealth Games in Delhi. "The world's perception of India is going to change after the Grand Prix," he promises. Critics fear it is just another sign of India's wealthy elite getting ever further ahead of the rest. "This is polo for the new generation," says Ashis Nandy, an academic and social commentator, describing the millions being spent on the Grand Prix race as an "utter waste" and "totally insensitive" - with the majority of Indians living on less than a dollar a day."Why does the international media keep focusing on the poor part of India," complains Formula 1 team owner Vijay Mallya.

We Are Falling For Old Pakistani Tricks

An Indian chopper strays into Pakistan and they return it along with the senior officials in it without much problems. Pakistan opens up a temple in Peshawar. Pakistan allows their Hindus to celebrate Diwali. Hints were dropped about Pakistan granting India the “most favored nation” treatment (as if our economy depends upon the paki trade!). News like this is catnip to the liberal pseudo secular crowd in India. They along with the south block have already started to chill the champagne. Have these idiots ever thought of why all this is happening? Why are these people who would rather see us roasted alive in a closed train compartment, started to have a change of heart? I will tell you why?

This is because the US is putting extraordinary pressure on Pakistan from the western borders with incessant drone attacks, forces build up and diplomatic. Pakistanis are incapable of dealing with pressure from two sides that is why they have decided to keep the Indians at bay by being nice to them. The wily pakis know that the Indian pseudo secular lobby always falls for their pseudo overtures like Pavlovian dogs. The pakis are going to say all the right things and ensure that we are not attacked by their terrorists while they are dealing with the Americans. Of course after that pressure has been dealt with (US forces out of Afghanistan), they will resume bleeding us. We are falling for such obvious tricks for the umpteenth time. Shame on us!!
In fact now is the time to bring some more pressure on the pakis and then negotiate (if at all). But that is a move which requires guts and foresight, somethings our leaders lack sorely. That compounded with votebank politics and an inexplicable love for the pakis, leads us to make disastrous foreign policy decisions. When it comes to pakis, we hope that the problems will go away on their own, somehow the paki army and terrorists will abandon hate for India and we will then descend on a Bollywood movie set and sing “Kumbaya” or “Chammak Challo”. Yes all our foreign policy towards pakis is based on hope and nothing else. At least with China we have a Look East policy even though for the most part we take the cowards way out by sweeping the Chinese transgressions under our collective “khatiyas”.

In an e-conversation with an obviously angry friend of the blog Vidur Sarthi I got the following from him. I am sure that you will agree with him.

There is something in MEA that makes the whole establishment subtly and sometimes overtly anti US as the heritage of NAM and Nehruvian influence of socialist utopia. the real evil lies with the congress party that has of late sees in the Muslim vote bank the key issue of survival. in addition , i have NEVER figured out what is India's foreign policy - we are not friends even with our tiny SAARC neighbours with the Chinese controlling them.... ! sometimes I wonder if it is in our Hindu genes - we never go beyond the four V's - vichar , vimarshan , vishlayshan and vimochan !! our entire pak policy is reactive - with Pakistan always setting the agenda including the latest report of condi rice in which it was the pakis who set the agenda by putting the scare and the rumor of India attacking ! just imagine the entire NATO and the US buying into the Paki fear of encirclement by India and Afghanistan !
Frankly speaking I cannot believe that the Paks have again got away following Mullen outburst ! as my pak friend says , you Hindus are nice guys , you always let us get away even though you catch us pants down just as in Kargil and in 1971 -- we then feared that India would capture certain portion in the west and would vacate if we gave up claims on POK !!
And the BJP is another myopic party that does not know how to capitalize for fear of being called a radical party and losing out on the Muslim votes not realizing that they get nothing anyway! By pretending and presenting as modestly moderate , they lose even those votes that would go to them if they showed some strongly calibrated aggression - but there is no spine - how can there be if it is still letting the 80 plus year man to do their Ratha Yatra !

Clearly and overhaul of our policies is needed. That will not happen on the watch of such Paki-philes as Manmohan Singh.

An excellent article on the subject by Mr. G Parthasarthy can be read at:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/pioneer-news/edit/15995-pakistan-plays-a-double-game.html