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Friday, December 28, 2012

Modi Jeeta, Tho Wohi Sikandar


An important / significant message that all political pundits and the secular media have deliberately or inadvertently ignored about Modi’s victory is the “JO JEETA WHOI SIKANDAR” maxim. A victory, which was not once, not twice but sort of record setting third time and that too after a decade long, sustained attack of negative campaign and mud slinging. To make these attacks formidable and overwhelming, senior officials of the government machinery were used alongside loyal secular English language media journalist and NGO’s. At the end, the Modi baiters were a frustrated lot because nothing stuck. It did not stick because of Modi’s innocence rather than legal wrangling.

What is now obvious is that Narendra Modi must be the most thoroughly VETTED leader in the whole world subjected to such vicious and vigorous “agni-pareeksha”. Yet, despite overwhelming odds stacked against him, he has endured and WON. Again and again and again. So Bhai Narendra Modi is the undisputed SIKANDAR.

The exposés have become particularly vicious during the election years. The attached 2007 video of Hindustan Times & CNN IBN Leadership Summit is relevant even today and clearly demonstrates the deep rooted anti Modi bias of famous media personalities who have since fallen from grace and continue to question and attack Mr. Modi. Rajdeep Sardesai continues his relentless attack questioning Modi’s morality in his election victory. In the video Modi rightly counter questions Rajdeep’s deep rooted negativity that does not allow him to acknowledge the greater good in Modi’s economic reforms and only look to highlight the small percentage of flaws in Gujarat’s development. Slandering Modi has become a habit and a hobby for many so-called liberal and secular political pundits. After the Supreme Court appointed SIT cleared Modi’s name in the 2002 Godhra riots, journalists like Vir Sanghvi and Barkha Dutt continued their hateful rhetoric, calling Modi a mass murderer. Of course one should ask what credibility and moral right do Vir Sanghvi (mentioned in this video) and Barkha Dutt have to do so when they themselves have been exposed to involvement in the Nira Radia tapes of the 2G scam. The hypocrisy of these media mavens knows no bounds.

Louise Khurshid the wife of the Congress external affairs minister Salman Khurshid can be seen questioning Modi on the percentage of vote that he won with during 2002 only to get a smart and logical rebut from Modi. Per Modi, what this woman conveniently ignored was that the corrupt Congress regime that her husband is part of, is ruling the entire country with far less vote percent than Modi has ruled Gujarat.

Now that he has been exonerated for atrocities and marginalizing the minorities, the media has found new rhetoric against Modi which is malnutrition in Gujarat and his “exaggerated development” achievements.

Pratap Bhanu Mehta in his article title “A Modi-fied politics” in The Indian Express writes: “If the Central government had been subjected to the kind of scrutiny Gujarat has been subjected to, our economic history would have been entirely different.

I would like to point out that the people who have used the term Hindutva to vilify Modi, stand exposed as charlatans and poseurs who do not understand the term at all. As Modi explains in the video, the entire Hindutva philosophy is based on the important Rig Veda verse “Ekam Sat, Viprah Bahudha Vadanti” i.e. “Truth is one but men describe it differently” or “That which exists is ONE sages call it by various names “or “God is one but there are different way to attain Him”. Now what can be more secular and inclusive than this? Compare this with the “Holier-than-thou or “Kafir the Non-believer” attitude. It’s an unfortunate irony that Hindutva has been branded as being communal while the organized religions are celebrated as secular.
It is expected that with Modi’s move to the center becoming imminent, the pseudo secularist will try to dig out more dirt and become even more vicious in their attacks.

Here is another post from early this year by one Vinod K Jose titled “The Emperor Uncrowned” detailing Modi’s rise can be read at: http://www.caravanmagazine.in/reportage/emperor-uncrowned

Finally all I have to say to the Modi baiter is “When you point one finger, there are three fingers pointing back at you”. Also wish to add an improvised Ghalib’s sher:

Chalta hoon thodi door har ek Tez rau ke saath, 
Pahchanta hoon abhi Raahbar ko main

(I join everyone who is ahead in the caravan, /I have recognized the leader who will show me the way).

It is TIME we accept Narendra Modi is the undisputed Sikandar.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Delhi Gangrape and Congress’ Cruel Indifference

A girl gets brutally raped and left for dead. There is outrage. Unusually more. It was the proverbial last straw. The anger grew. The protests grew. It was all very unusual in New Delhi, which sees more rapes than any other Indian city. However, the response of the Congress state and central government was usual. Yes. As usual, after seeing the outrage, Sheila Dixit and Sonia Gandhi condescended to step out and offer platitudes to the protesters. Of course when that was not enough, the police dealt the protesters with decisive force. There is outrage at the nature of police actions. Are you surprised?

The Congress Government’s incompetence and corruption is exceeded by their cruel indifference to the miseries of aam aadmi. It does not seem possible but every time you think that these decision makers have reached the bottom, they surprise you. Manmohan Singh’s crack economic team redefined poverty to fight it. Per the economic genius Montek Ahluwalia whose foreign travel budget is in crores, people making Rs. 35 are not poor. Not to be done by this sorry excuse of an Indian, Sheila Dixit comes out and says that a family of five can feed themselves for a month with Rs. 600. No invective is apt enough to describe these cruel Indians. So we lower our expectations. If you cannot feed us properly, surely you can keep us safe. WRONG. If you are a woman living in New Delhi, the chance of your getting raped is very high, much higher than the rest of the civilized world (if we can call ourselves civilized). If you go out to protest against an injustice like rape and murder, then you get worse treatment than the rapists themselves.

In an analysis of the current situation, Mr. B Raman who has pointed out all the issues but has decided to drag in Narendra Modi in this article when Modi’s own state has no problem of this kind. I am flabbergasted by Mr. Raman’s desire to be fair in blame distribution when it comes to this kind of cruel incompetence. He writes the following:

The de jure power and decision-making vacuum in the Prime Minister's Office and the de facto accumulation of power in circles close to Sonia Gandhi have added to the command and control confusion. During a discussion on the current situation among retired government servants who had served under previous prime ministers, someone posed the questions: Who is taking the key decisions? Where are the key decisions being taken -- in the Congress headquarters or in the PMO? Who is responsible for ensuring the clarity and sophistication of public communications and interactions? Who monitors the developments and suggests action and policy options to the PM?

This has been the case for every situation since the UPA won in 2004. Why is Raman now showing his surprise? If these media mavens and self styled policy stalwarts had started to lay the blame where it belonged, maybe we would not be in this pile of dung. Of course the decision-making is extremely quick when it comes to punishing people who dare to oppose the might of Congress. General VK Singh has been stripped off all his security details. Meanwhile people who are not fit to wipe Singh’s shoes are enjoying Z+ security. Only in India can this happen.

Meanwhile Mr. NV Subramanian says the following in an article where he does not shy away from laying blame where it lies:

What prevented Pranab Mukherjee from walking up to the students protesting at the ramparts of Rashtrapati Bhawan? The President is not above the people of the country. The protestors weren’t terrorists or Maoists as Sushil Shinde alludes to them. Why couldn’t Sushma Swaraj forgo Twitter for a while and go to India Gate? Was she afraid of lynching? Why so? Couldn’t an all-party delegation have met the students?

Sheila Dixit, in her anxiety to deflect attention from her own incompetence, is demanding Neeraj Kumar’s head. But even for form’s sake, has the Bharatiya Janata Party, the so-called principal opposition party, made a similar demand? Have Sushma Swaraj or Arun Jaitley, reputedly chums of the police commissioner, if you believe Ram Jethmalani?

Of course, the real blame lies with the voters. You deserve the government you elect. Shame on every one who voted for Congress. I hope you are big enough to admit your blunder. To the youth who are protesting today, I have two questions to ask:

a. Is the status quo acceptable to you?
b. If not, what do you intend to do about it?

I think that no non-Congress member will say yes to the first question. As far as the second question is considered, protest is one way. Change of guard is another. We have another general election on the horizon. Clearly, the central leadership of BJP has failed to offer a good solution. As we saw in Himachal Pradesh, local level BJP leadership has also failed. However, we have an impending change of guard in the BJP. The man from Gujarat, who is waiting in the wings, has clearly established rock solid credentials in every aspect of governance. My suggestion to the youth of today is the following. Take a stand. Do not fall for the English language media hogwash. Look beyond the lies of the pseudo-secular establishment and examine Gujarat’s safety and prosperity. Wouldn’t you like to repeat the same for the entire country?

Monday, December 24, 2012

Narendra Modi’s Victory Was Real, Big And Significant.

As per a common practice in a contest you should always lower the expectations. That way, you have an excuse for defeat and marginal wins. In case of a big win, you can claim modesty and come out looking like a gracious winner. A corollary to all this is that your opponent  builds up huge and unreal expectations of your victory. That way even a big victory by you looks like a defeat and his defeat a gain. Smart move by your enemy, especially if you do not counter your opponent’s expectation building scheme.

The BJP leadership was too busy with intra-party confusion that they did not pay attention to the media’s scheme of building up possibility of a huge win by Narendra Modi. Modi himself did not come out with his own estimates and left it to the pro-Congress media and other outfits with their unrealistic polls. It made Bhai Narendra Modi’s victory look like a lesser version of what it actually was. The conspiracy theorist in me tells me that this exercise was pre-planned by Congress media mavens to make Modi’s victory look small and Congress’s defeat look like a gain of some sort.

First and foremost, I must congratulate all the Congress contestants in Gujarat. They really did perform very well. They gained over 61 seats and a very significant vote percent 39 (which is much higher than their national vote percent). They did this with absolutely no achievements to show for in Gujarat and nationally except for increasing the size of scams, price, inflation, poverty etc. In fact the only thing that has gone down during Congress rule is the value of human life.

The only state with uninterrupted three terms or more is West Bengal where voters kept electing the communists until they could no more. That streak had little to do with performance and more to do with politics of manipulation. That is the reason why Narendra Modi’s third term victory is so significant. He has done so in a state where the opposition is very strong (39% votes for Congress implies that a powerful third party or a small vote flip flop could have turned the table the other way). He has done so with an overwhelming majority in the Gujarat Vidhan Sabha (comments from the Congress leaders notwithstanding). He has done so with no help from the Central government which takes a lot more in taxes than it gives back in help (drought etc.). He has done so with little to help from his own party. He has done so despite of the best efforts of a disillusioned Keshubhai Patel. He has done so in face of ten years of incessant maelstrom of negative attacks from the Congress controlled media, central government installed judiciary, false charges drummed up by NGOs and stooges like Sanjiv Bhatt. A lesser man would have folded but not him. He won a third term totally based on merit and performance. No matter what the losers like Salman Khurshid and Chidambaran say, Modi’s win was big, real and significant.

Bhai Narendra Modi has proven to be one of those “once in a lifetime” kind of leaders. I hope and pray that the Indian voters will get a chance to elect him and then vote him in the office of the Prime Minister of India. It would be nice to see a real leader adorn that seat, a seat that so far has been occupied by bit players, poseurs and frauds.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Why Did We Invite Rehman Malik?

Mr. B Raman, one of our foremost security experts says the following:

For India to expect that Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik and his police will act against the ISI-protected Lashkar-e-Tayiba is to live in a fool's paradise.

By announcing the arrest of another suspect in the Samjhauta explosion during his visit, we have unwittingly given him an opportunity to go back to Pakistan and claim to the fundamentalists and the Army that he succeeded in forcing India to act against the remaining suspects in the Samjhauta case. This shows how naive we can be in matters concerning Pakistan.

NV Subramanian whom we admire greatly, writes the following:

Those in this country that speak of peace with Pakistan (the flag-bearers of Aman ki Asha) have not the faintest notion of Pakistan’s founding ideology, the Two-Nation Theory of Hindus and Muslims being never able to co-exist, which has put Pakistan forever in violent competition and confrontation mode with India, whose by-products are terrorist leaders such as Hafiz Mohammed Sayeed. Rehman Malik, who controversially visited India last week, is merely a buffoonish sample of Establishment Pakistan’s dyed-in-the-wool India baiters.

Pakistan is not ready for peace with India. It does not want peace. Peace with India militates against its founding ideology.

Mr. MJ Akbar who is one of the most level headed (for the most part) journalists, wrote the following:

Have Dr Manmohan Singh and Mrs Sonia Gandhi decided that it is time India forgot about Mumbai and moved on, as Rehman Malik publicly urged India to do? I imagine that our leaders squirmed a little when Rehman Malik declared Hafiz Saeed innocent, or indeed when he blamed the death of Kargil martyr Saurabh Kalia on the weather rather than enemy atrocity.

A majority of Indians wants peace with Pakistan, but they want peace with justice. Indians know that Mumbai might fade from memory but will never disappear, and that Pakistan can do something to ease the pain. Pakistan can ensure that the Mumbai masterminds do not laugh derisively while Indian hearts burn. Is that too much to ask, Dr Singh?

The two words which stand out in the Raman article are fool and naïve. That aptly describes a lot of people involved in the current “peace talks”. What become clear from the Subramanian article is our attitude towards peace at all costs, ignoring the history (and doomed to repeat it over and over). The Akbar article only reinforces the Subramanian contention. Our home ministers are people who are known better for their dress sense than abilities. The current guy kept addressing Hafiz Syed as Mr. or Shri Syed. Wow! Narendra Modi is referred to as “Maut ka Saudagar “ by Shinde’s Boss while a murdering terrorist is treated with respect! This is what happens when your foreign policy is based on hope and good faith rather than strength and realistic diplomacy. Basic things like human dignity and justice were sacrificed by Manmohan Singh’s desire for peace with Pakistan. Our own Atalji, who was a Paki-phile, feted and treated that bastard Pervez Musharraf with state honors and hospitality. All he did was piss all over us and insult us at every stage possible. Of course it is too much to ask from our leaders to learn from history. They invited that bimbo of their foreign minister and we all know what came out of that. Not to be deterred by historical precedence, we invited Rehman Malik who essentially came over to cement his own political standing in Pakistan by pissing all over us and making himself look tough. Of course at the same time, we were showing our fair-mindedness and bolstering our secular credentials by arresting yet another hapless Hindu for Samjhauta express bombing. A lamppost would have shown better gumption and backbone than our current leaders.

Peace with India is not beneficial to Pakistan’s establishment or army. To buy time (while they try to deal with problems with the US / Afghanistan), they make meaningless concessions to our government who is so desperate to show an achievement that they fall for simple Paki tricks.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me. What do we say about fooling me the umpteenth number of times?

The Raman article can be read at: http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-malik-s-india-visit-how-naive-can-we-be/20121217.htm
The Subramanian article can be read at: http://newsinsight.net/Stuckintherut.aspx#page=page-1
The Akbar article can be read at: http://www.sunday-guardian.com/analysis/peace-but-with-justice

Monday, December 10, 2012

Leftist Intellectuals Taking Modi To Task

The Indian leftists are getting smarter when it comes to Modi. They know that the whole name calling (“Maut Ka Saudagar”) bit is not working. In fact in face of relentless name calling and false attacks by NGOs, the man has gone from strength to strength and converted Gujarat into what we would want our states to become. What the leftists are now trying is a subtle form of reverse psychology. They are trying to appeal to the “good senses” of Hindus in some cases. In other cases, they are criticizing the Congress and the Gandhi family and then coming after Modi. That way they can claim a balanced approach to journalism. We had dealt with the former approach in one of our blogs where a Muslim scribe tried to shame Hindu voters. You can read my rebuttal to that man in the url at the end of this post.

A premier example of the latter is Ramchandra Guha. This St. Stephens educated, so called eminent historian has managed to seduce a lot of gullible middle class Hindus by taking the Gandhi family to task. However, his fairness is only skin deep and his leftism shows once you scrap the surface. This is what he says about Modi in a recent interview published in rediff:

"Gujarat needs to introspect. Modi is a very polarising figure. He still has some admirable qualities, he's courageous, he's not corrupt. But he is also polarising, sectarian and I think ... he has a kind of megalomania -- main hi hoon, aur koi nahi hai."

'More Modi appeals in Gujarat, less he appeals outside'

See what he is doing? He is concealing his Modi hatred in the thin veneer of a praise. In the interview, Guha tries to explain Modi’s popularity and bends over backward and twists himself into knots trying to justify his stance. You know what, I have no problem with any of that. Guha is the citizen of a free country and thus afforded freedom of speech by the law. He is welcome to his opinion. I only have two things to say to him and other “intellectuals”.

1. You agree that Modi is going to win in Gujarat. Then why bother and waste time writing and analyzing the Gujarati voter behavior? You also contend that he is not going to win outside of Gujarat because he is too polarizing and you seem very sure of your contention. If you are so sure of his defeat in a general election then why bother to write and analyze his impending defeat. In fact, you should be happy. Men of Guha’s staggering intellect should not be wasting their important breath on a person like Modi who (in their opinion) is so beneath him. They should let him be and stumble.

2. The second thing I have to say is more of an appeal. The leftists and the intellectuals have secularist stalwarts like Mulayam Yadav, Mayawati, Lalu Yadav , Karunanidhi, entire Communist party, most of the Congress on their side. We only have one guy – Narendra Modi. In the name of national harmony, could you take pity on your helpless Hindu step brothers and sisters and leave him alone? Obviously Modi is no threat at the national level (as per your own opinion) then leave him and us to our own petty victory in Gujarat. Don’t tell me that you are scared of him and you do not believe in your own theory? Do you Mr. Guha?

Our rebuttal can be read at:http://thenethindu.blogspot.com/2011/09/narendra-modi-and-post-godhra-massacre.html
Guha’s interview can be read at:http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-gujarat-election-more-modi-appeals-less-he-appeals-outside/20121210.htm



Sunday, December 9, 2012

Big Win For Modi Is Important For BJP

We have always held that in politics like other fields, quick risers are detested while people who have come up the hard way are respected. The ground level workers will never respect people like Manmohan Singh and Arun Jaitley. On the other hand, people like Mayawati, Mullayam Yadav and Mamta Bannerjee have the respect of their supporters (for better or for worse). The BJP CM’s are a good example of such people. However, the best example of this kind is Narendra Modi who has earned his position in politics because of hard work and performance even in the face of a tsunami of negativity against him. After ten years or proving himself over and over again, he has earned the respect of a lot of his non-political detractors. Even the political ones sometime praise him by mistake. We all know that right now, his own party leaders are the biggest bumps on his road to New Delhi. We all know that Modi is going to win in Gujarat. What is crucial is that he wins big. Why? I will try to make a few points.

1. As per common wisdom, a big win is expected to shut up all of Modi detractors in the BJP. A big win will firmly place him on the top of the heap and then all the party leaders will fall behind him. Why? It is because such a victory will earn him the support of the lower to mid level workers of the party. In the last UP elections, eastern UP BJP leaders wanted Modi to campaign and rejuvenate the grass root level workers. BJP’s abject failure in UP clearly indicated that leaders who have not shown any electability in public elections (as opposed to intra-party elections like the kind shown by Gadkari, Sanjay Joshi or those old timers Lalji Tondon, Kalraj Mishra or Rajnath Singh.

2. BJP is in disarray but nothing that cannot be fixed by a charismatic leader who has shown ability to perform and win. Who better than Modi for this task.
Everyone likes to back a winner, which is why Rahul Gandhi is a lonely man right now.
3. You may hate to admit it but road to New Delhi goes through UP. BJP will have to drastically improve their performance in UP and the rest of the Hindi belt to win the next general elections. While other BJP CMs are proven performers but Modi is head and shoulders above them in abilities and charisma. A very large block of voters in UP are OBCs. Modi being an OBC is most likely to capture their attention. The Hindu middle class who has been repeatedly double-crossed by Mayawati and Mullayam Yadav are low hanging fruits in UP ready to be picked by someone who can promise them performance without corruption. No one has more credibility than Narendra Modi in the entire nation.

4. If Hindutva was the only issue which would win the elections for the BJP then there are other leaders. But we all know that while it may win at a local level but at the national level, it is not enough. On the other hand, diluting the BJP’s Hindu nationalistic ideology is out of the question. Trying to appeal to the Muslim is a total waste of time. We, therefore, need someone who embodies Hindu nationalism while demonstrating the ability to perform. Modi is the perfect answer to that quandary.

5. A significant number of seats in UP and regaining the lost seats in Rajasthan will place BJP on terra firma. The NDA allies will fall into place and back Modi despite of their love for Muslim votes. Nitish Kumar’s Deputy CM is an old time RSS hand. Winning cures all the side effects of the disease called pseudo-secularism and Modi is a proven winner. He is the only one who can appeal to all Hindus from the entire caste spectrum. OBCs can vote for him because he is one of them. Others can vote because he can perform and repeat the Gujarat experiment for the entire nation.

6. We need some strong dalit and tribal leaders. The ST’s from Gujarat have repeatedly proven to be loyal BJP supporters. Maybe Modi can identify some upstart leaders and groom them. There are many dalit leaders in the BJP. It is of paramount importance to groom them and make the BJP umbrella even larger.

All this CAN happen. We need strong leadership who are winners, organizers and performers and can go out and enthuse and inspire the party workers who can then go out and mobilize the Hindu voters to stand behind proven leadership and put India back on the road to recovery.

We need Narendra Modi.

India needs Narendra Modi.

Saturday, December 8, 2012

FDI In Retail: No One Wins

Desperate to show an achievement, divert attention from numerous scams and impending defeat in Gujarat, the Congress followed the British taught and time tested method of divide and rule and got this piece of legislation passed. Anand Sharma and Kamal Nath cannot stop gloating about this “victory”. Is this really a victory? Who does this benefit? Why the hurry especially when the Walmart store will not open before 2018 when some of these Congress stalwarts may not even be alive to see it? Here are some points to ponder.

1. Bharti Electoral Trust is one of the biggest donors to Congress. Bharti group has partnered with Walmart. They are the ones who stand to benefit from this deal. This was crony capitalism at its worst. Since the chances of a Congress victory in 2014 is quite dim, the Bharti people may have leaned on the Congress to get this passed. Of course the US pressure cannot be discounted either. I think that the possibility of a loss in 2014 general elections caused the hurry.

2. The Congress paid scribes who have written in support of this deal have taken great pains into describing how this deal does not negatively impact anyone. Since when has “no loss” been a good reason to do anything? Clearly the Congress does not want their supporters knowing the real reason.

3. The consumers do not benefit at all. Walmart is a poor man’s store in the US. In India it will be anything but. Of course these stores will remain in upscale areas and thus will probably not impact the so “Kirana stores”. The aam aadmi will not get to shop with any degree of frequency in these stores. The target shoppers are the middle class Indians who have completely changed their attitude about money and treat their incomes as disposable.

4. The suppliers are going to get squeezed. Walmart executives are the corporate equivalents of pythons. They use their financial clout to run over, squeeze and swallow suppliers and competition. When Walmart started in the US, they bragged about an all American made inventory. Now it is all Chinese made inventory. As it is, the Indian markets are flooded with Chinese made crap. With Walmart at the helm, our small businesses and manufacturers are going to lose big.

5. I hope that the Dhoti clad entrepreneurs (a term coined by the intrepid Prof. Vaidyanathan of IIM Bangluru) do not get wiped out. They are one of the biggest employers in the country and any loss to them will be felt far and wide.

6. Coming back to Congress, they used the dirtiest possible tricks to bring Mayawati and Mulla-yam Yadav in line. Existing cases of corruption was used to squeeze Mayawati. Of course She does not want the general elections to move forward because she needs time to prepare for the next elections. Mulla-yam does not want to be seen voting with BJP by his Muslim voters. Of course, he needs money from the central government to make his election promises come true to the UP voters who fell for his promises. Akhilesh Yadav’s tenure has been an unmitigated disaster with almost one communal riot per moth of his rule. Of course, Karunanidhi will lay an egg if asked by Congress. So getting his vote was not a problem.

Congress may crow about this victory, which is pyrrhic at best. A huge number of small businesses are Muslim owned. Hopefully now they can open their eyes. The large number of middle class Hindu businesspersons who were stupid enough to abandon the BJP and voted for SP and BSP will suffer and rightly so. Of course the loss of credibility that the Congress will suffer after they railroaded every coalition partner will come back and bite them in this era of coalition politics. Who can rely on them? Pranab Mukherjee’s promise that the FDI vote will be unanimous has already been broken. Dare say that his supporters could be very happy. Of course the opposition has also been a loser. Mamta Bannerjee cannot team up with Congress or the Commies or the BJP (Muslim votes) anymore. The BJP continue to look rudderless but can treat this as a wakeup call.

The Congress can claim all kinds of victory but this has been anything but.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Second Generation Of BJP Leaders Show The Way.


BJP Chief Ministers, right to left, Narendra Modi (Gujarat), Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh), P K Dhumal (Himachal Pradesh), Arjun Munda (Jharkhand), Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (Uttarakhand) and Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Modi

After she was put in a bind, Sushmaji “endorsed” Narendra Modi as a “fit candidate” for PM. It was the kind of endorsement that one gives to a rival. In fact the entire core team of BJP leaders is behaving like rivals. Despite of single handedly destroying BJP’s chances in 2009, Advani is still nursing his dream. Sushmaji still has not realized her place in the party. She is a good orator with limited public appeal and a disastrous Delhi CM tenure under her belt. Gadkari knows his role exactly and that way has stayed out of this power play. Jaitley has never won a Loksabha election. He and Gadkari are probably the least qualified of all.

These people are all campaigning in Gujarat but the statements and body language betrays a lack of enthusiasm. Gujarat election has the potential of becoming a political body blow for Congress. That should enthuse even the moribund in the BJP but not this crowd. On the other hand, the CMs of all the BJP ruled states have not only endorsed Modi without any reservations but also have been campaigning for him. These two events have long-term implications on the future of the BJP. First of all, the current crop of the BJP leadership has outlived its utility. These people are mired in petty rivalries and seemed to have reached a plateau of mediocrity. On the other hand, this next generation of BJP leaders i.e. the BJP CM’s, Sushil Kumar Modi and a number of younger leaders have shown that they realize that the party has to move away from sloganeering and perform when given a chance. From that point of view, the current leadership failed miserably in handling the Karnataka situation. It was a tremendously important state, BJP’s foothold in the great Indian South but thanks to inept management, it may be lost back to Congress.

The BJP CM’s have shown how to govern with efficiency so we know that they are all competent men. None of them, other than BSY have been implicated in anything despite of the entire Congress machinery against them. We know they are all very honest. They have won elections convincingly. So we know that these guys have mass appeal and can extrapolate that to the national level. Their enthusiasm is palpable. I am sure they also have big egos but clearly that is not showing. They clearly are not bothered by the hoopla around Modi’s move to the national scene. These guys give me hope that there exists a second generation of BJP leaders who can continue to lead us for the next decade and beyond.

To have a second generation of such competent leadership will make the BJP a very important player in future. Congress high command has no desire of bringing up anyone as long as Rahul and Priyanka are around. The regional parties including Trinamul Congress are all either family run or based on a personality cult. No scope of second-generation leadership there. That only leaves the Commies who have second-generation leaders but Commies are never going to be a national force and will remain in Bengal and Kerala.

It is because of this that I feel good about the future of the BJP. If only we can lift ourselves up from the current mess and find a way to win 2014.

The image is from ahmedabadmirror.com
An article of interest is:http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_gujarat-polls-bjp-cms-slam-upa-on-campaign-trail_1769565

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Jethmalani Goes. Gadkari Stays. Shameful.

So the BJP did fire someone. They gathered all the courage and took a decisive action. However, it was the wrong guy. Ram Jethmalani is an old-fashioned rabble-rouser with an acute understanding of Indian Law. In that way he is a lot like Subramnian Swamy without the political heft. He brings a keen legal mind and a propensity to speak his mind to the table. He says what most are afraid to say out loud. In that regard, he served a valuable role for the BJP. Now let us examine what Gadkari brings to the table. He brings physical heft, a loud mouth, poor management (amply demonstrated by many losses at state level under him), uninspiring leadership, and a corrupt image. You would be hard pressed to find any redeemable feature in this guy. However, as we can see, he stays and Jethmalani goes.

So we ask my favorite question – “Cui bono” i.e. “Who benefits”? Indeed. Who benefits with Gadkaris’s continuing as the BJP chief? Obviously the party has not benefitted from him. They did not win any election under him (GOA DOES NOT COUNT). In fact we lost seats in UP. His penchant for reckless statements has repeatedly left red-faced BJP leaders fumbling for answer. Does he have any kind of mass appeal, which will benefit the party? NO. Does he benefit any segment of Indian population or even (hate to say it but) a caste or a community. The answer again is a resounding NO. The only people who benefit from him being there are the RSS leaders who control the BJP using him as a remote control. Kind of like Sonia controlling the Indian government using Manmohan Singh as the remote control.

One would have thought that after getting caught in an extremely immoral way of making money, the so called nationalistic Hindu leaders of the RSS would wash their hands of this guy Of course not. The RSS leaders love the power with the responsibility or answerability like Sonia Gandhi. Even now they are hell-bent on giving Gadkari a second term. It is old-fashioned hypocrisy at work. They do not want to lose their stooge in the BJP even though he is accused of the same sin, as the worst detractors of the RSS are – corruption. Now even that may be forgivable in some alternate universe if he were an extremely competent politician (like Mulayam Yadav) but he not even that.

The current RSS leadership has either lost touch with reality or they are willing to cut their noses to spite their face. The BJP has a great opportunity to win in 2014 and install a difference making government in New Delhi. However, with Gadkari firmly ensconced (thanks to the RSS) and Swaraj/Advani/Jaitley clearly unable to provide a good leadership, the BJP continues to shoot themselves in the foot. Instead of firmly standing behind the one guy who is going to give them a huge victory in Gujarat, Swaraj et. al. are content standing on the sidelines offering platitudes and tepid support for Narendra Modi.

This is a sad story. A very apt example is that of the Republican Part in the US, who was on the verge of defeating a weak president like Barak Hussein Obama in an extremely winnable election, they shot themselves in the foot. In fact they blew their feet off (to create a new cliché). I have a sinking feeling that the BJP will find a way to lose the next general elections because of petty egos of the RSS and BJP leaders. If these people do not rise about their pathetic and petty egos then they will be responsible for BJP’s loss and re-electing Congress to yet another disgraceful term.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

India Has Limited Freedom of Speech

Rest in peace, Balasaheb. May you continue to roar in the next life as you did in this one. Balasaheb Thackeray was a pioneer in Indian politics. He can be credited into bringing unabashed Hindu Nationalism into mainstream politics. In that respect he will be remembered forever.

I am a great admirer of his even though I did not agree with him all the time. A great man, he still was a subset of Mother India. No one is greater than Mother India and the system which represent her. Our democracy is second to none in the sheer number and the diverse nature of its followers. It is our crowning achievement, our rotten politicians notwithstanding. One of the hallmarks of any democracy is the freedom of speech and expression. It has to be preserved at all cost. Short of threats, deadly or otherwise and yelling fire or any such criminal mischief, we should be allowed to say whatever we want to say and the system should protect us. Just because Hindu nationalists say negative things about the Gandhi family on the social media, the government should not go out and ban facebook or twitter accounts as the Congress governments are wont to.

By the same token, if the leftists, pseudo-secularists or the religious minorities say something nasty about our heroes then should be allowed to do so and be protected by the full power of the law. Arrests of the two girls in the aftermath of Babsaheb’s demise were disgraceful. The decorum and the control that the Shivsainiks showed at the funeral should have continued afterwards and the girl’s uncle’s clinic should have been left alone.

That said, we should never ignore the ground realities of our country. We cannot become like the US overnight. Even the most corrupt of our politician is likely to be very sensitive about him or her and resort to violence to protect his or her “image”. The religious minorities are even more sensitive, if that were possible. We all should realize that India has very limited free speech and breaking that unsaid rule can have serious to dire consequences. The system favors the powerful, judiciary is slow and mobs cannot be controlled. We should strive for total freedom of speech but should never forget where we are.


Thursday, November 22, 2012

Kasab’ Hanging: A Political Move By Congress

Kasab’s hanging was a political move. Pure and simple. Congress is doing it for selfish reasons. It was like a trump card in a card game. They need to do something to make a difference in Gujarat elections. They need to stem the tsunami of corruption charges against them and turn the enormously negative public opinion against them. I do not know what kind of dividend they would reap but the pro-Congress press has already started to crow over this “achievement”. What the Congress and their chamchas choose to ignore is that if the fickle minded and myopic voters of India can forget mega scams, how long will it take for them to forget this hanging, especially since they well near forgot about this Kasab fellow by the enormous delays in what should have happened a long time ago. If Congress were really this justice oriented then Afzal Guru would be rotting underground somewhere by now. Of course Afzal is an Indian Muslim and thus untouchable by Congress and other pseudo-secular parties. They chose to sacrifice a non Indian Muslim for their survival.

This is all part of the way Congress does business. Everything is about their survival prosperity. This was not about justice. The day they catch the Indian collaborators for the 26/11 attacks is the day I would change my opinion. They went after the Bhindranwale and his terrorists with a vengeance while none of the Muslim terrorists form SIMI and other outfits are still roaming free. Hanging this lone gunman is not like the Americans going after Osama and hunting him like a mad dog. Congress took the easy way out to show that this matter is now closed. FAR FROM IT. It will take a lot more than just hanging of one terrorist to change my mind and hopefully that of any patriotic Indian.

Does all this mean that hanging of Kasab was bad or wrong? I am torn about it. He was just the guy who pulled the trigger. The masterminds who really are responsible are still roaming free and until those people are caught and brought to justice only then will the victims’ families will get closure.

I am not the kind of guy who starts singing “Mere dushman mere bhai” at the sight of Pakistanis. I believe in ripping the enemy’s head and pissing down their throats (in a manner of speaking) like the western armies do. Once the guilt is established beyond a doubt, then people like Kasab should be denied a Muslim burial. Why should we fulfill their desire of martyrdom?

This hanging was done for political benefits and not justice. This hanging still leaves the real terrorists roaming free, either in India or Pakistan. Hanging Kasab is like burning someone in effigy. Symbolic. That is why it does not feel right. I urge the Indian voters to stop celebrating and continue to ask the hard questions from this corrupt and impotent regime led by Gandhi family and Congress.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

RSS, BJP- Please Do The Right Thing!

Swami Vivekananda. Dawood Ibrahim. Let us add one more name to the list. Nitin Gadkari. I don’t know whose IQ is what or which two have the same IQ. Hard for me to say. But what I can say for sure that I know whose IQ is the lowest.

The situation between Gadkari, RSS and BJP is still very fluid. People are changing their stances on the issue on a daily basis. Clean chits are being issued by people with no locus standi. Be that as it may. What is really really flummoxing is that no one seems to be doing the right thing or even remotely interested in the pursuit of the right thing.

I come from a family of RSS / Janasangha / BJP supporters. I used to go to shakhas myself. I am an abashed admirer of the RSS, the work they do and what the organizations stands for. However, I have lost all respect for the current leaders of the RSS. They are not behaving like egoless leaders of a patriotic nationalistic organization. They seem to be out of touch, control freaks who are willing to destroy any advantage that the BJP has over Congress by continuing with Nitin Gadkari whose incompetence is only matched by his ability to make highly irresponsible statements. This man has no business being a leader of a party which wants to be the party of difference. His only function seems to be that of an RSS installed puppet. They want the Congress out based on corruption charges but they are willing to forgive Gadkari the same sins. It would seem that the BJP and the RSS are busy issuing clean chits to Gadkari based on the argument that “everyone does it” and that it is not the corruption in the same vein as the Congress corruption. But that is the Beni Prasad Verma argument who referred to Salman Khurshid’s 76 lakh “Chori” as not real “chori”. Is this how the BJP plans to portray themselves to the voters – Congress lite? Do they think that the voters are going to forgive them like they are forgiving Gadkari?

This is a great opportunity for the BJP to oust the Congress and install a real leader as the PM. They can then make some real differences in the lives of aam aadmi and cement their standing a patriotic nationalistic party. Indulging in war of semantics and speaking legalese to absolve themselves of the responsibility of doing the right thing here which is cutting their ties with Gadkari in the same way as they did with Bangaru Lakshman and others is irresponsible and dangerous.

No one expects Gadkari to do the right thing and resign. He is only interested in his own survival. BJP is a political party and they can also be given some leeway when it comes to taking hard decisions because of political expediency. However, the RSS leaders who are still protecting Gadkari CANNOT be absolved of their sins by commission. I am holding them responsible and will blame them if the BJP loses the 2014 election. Mr. NV Subramanian as expressed it well when he looks upon this as a fight between RSS and Modi. He says:

Institutions cannot change their thinking overnight, so the RSS-Narendra Modi clash will continue for a while. If not Gadkari, RSS will try for another BJP president, a provincial lightweight, so it can have its way. But it won’t work for long. If Narendra Modi and Arun Jaitley play their cards right, they will be Vajpayee-Advani-2 giving BJP its second coming. The RSS leadership would do the country a great favour by stepping out of their way. If they believe and act upon what they say every so often, that the BJP makes its own decisions, it would be evidence of the RSS’s wisdom. And in Narendra Modi, BJP will have its first leader who is not dependent on RSS backing, as he has repeatedly shown in Gujarat. Under him, BJP will come into its own.

We all know what the right thing to do is. We just have to wait and see who does it.
The url for NV Subramanian article:http://www.newsinsight.net/Contestofwills.aspx#page=page-1

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Khap Panchayats And Rapes In India

This is a sensitive topic and after much deliberation, I have decided to talk about. I had to read the psychology of the act to see if my sentiments on the matter are correct. It turns out that for the most part I am right. You can read the very unpleasant topic to see it for yourself. All the articles on rape will tell you that it is about violence, gender domination, revenge, criminal insanity, confusion between sex and violence etc. What it is NOT about is sex / companionship as has been insinuated by the Khap Panchayats.

These Khap Panchayats do serve a purpose. Solving trivial disputes in a village at no cost to the taxpayer is an important objective. However, most of these men are have little formal education. I am quite sure, without running the risk of sounding elitist that these men have no training to opine on topics like rape. To say that by lowering the age of marriage a solution to rape, they are exposing their ignorance at best and a sick mentality at worst. State government or the Central government need to step in and take charge of the situation in the rape-infested areas and come up with ways of solving the problem.

However we are seeing an alarming trend in the rest of the country as well. Recent rapes in West Bengal and a public assault of a girl in Guwahati are some examples. Mamata Bannerjee made some reckless remarks about the cause of rapes being the free mixing of the two sexes. I am sure that she will be at a loss for explaining rape of very young girls, old women and kidnapped girls. Better stuff is expected from a woman chief minister of one of our most literate states!

To make my point I have to discuss a TV show that I was made aware by a US based friend. On a TV channel called MSNBC, there is a show where they run a sting operation. Essentially, a police officer poses as a teenage girl and lures sex predators to a house where the TV show host waits for them along with the police. When the show was hosted in Silicon Valley, a large number of Indian techies were arrested. I am attaching two urls for you to see. The percentage of the techies caught was disproportionately higher than the Indian population in that area. And to think that all these guys thought that it is OK to have sex with a thirteen-year-old girl tells you something about them. I have struggled with a possible explanation for this depravity.

One possible explanation could be that boys in India are raised with a different degree of entitlement than girls. Preference for male child drives this kind of behavior. If a child is instilled with this attitude from infancy then what is going to be his attitude towards those whom he deems lesser people (girls, servants and other domestic / public help)? Does this kind of attitude objectify the girls, making their exploitation and rape acceptable? It does bear looking into.

Maybe the middle class boys who are raised in almost cocoon like atmosphere when exposed to public mixing with girls, mistake friendly overtures as loose behavior. Since when is a smile invitation for aggressive sexual behavior?

The point I am trying to make is that as a society, we need to drastically modify our view and way of raising sons and daughters. We clearly have lost our Hindu way of life where our goddesses are as revered as gods, where “Kanyadaan (giving away a daughter)” is deemed as a “Punya (grace)” and where the country is referred to as “Bharatmata”.

I am not a psychologist but a concerned father and an Indian. I can only talk about my angst in the matter. I do not have a solution for this problem other than what I can tell and teach my own kids. I tell and teach my son that no matter what the provocation, IT IS NEVER, EVER OK to strike or behave improperly with a girl. I thought that I was just doing the common sense thing here. Apparently it is not such a common sense thing after all.

A NY Times article on the matter can be read at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/world/asia/a-village-rape-shatters-a-family-and-indias-traditional-silence.html

An eye opening article on the psychology of rape can be read at: http://www.pbs.org/kued/nosafeplace/articles/rapefeat.html

Mamata Bannerjee comments on the topic can be read at: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/rapes-happening-because-men-and-women-are-interacting-more-freely-says-mamata-banerjee/300585-37-64.html

The Indian pedophiles article can be read at (and in the url within the articles): http://rivr.sulekha.com/indian-sex-predators-in-america_190725_blog
http://niralimagazine.com/2006/10/looking-for-love-in-all-the-wrong-places/

Friday, November 2, 2012

Narendra Modi Versus Pushkar / Tharoor

Sunanda Pushkar and Shahi Tharoor do make a good looking couple. It took them two failed marriages each to find each other . Looks, power and money – a potent combination indeed. I hope that they finally find some stability that most Indians take for granted. However, they are as relevant to the plight of aam aadmi as a bicycle is to a fish. Which is why, I have a bone to pick with Bhai Narendra Modi. He is too big and important to waste even a breath on someone like Pushkar. He needs to focus on the 2014 election like Arjun on the eye of the fish and not get distracted.

Having said that, I would like to examine the statement he made. He called Pushkar a 50 crore girlfriend. Now it could mean that Tharoor paid 50 crore to get her (which would be offensive if true) or it could mean that she is worth 50 crores (which is true and harmless / inane). It is not like Modi to mean the former because it is simply not true. What is true is that Pushkar was involved in wheeling and dealing of the IPL Kochi team and made a ton of money which would not have been possible if she were not using Tharoor’s influence. That makes her a social climber and Tharoor yet another Congressman. Her vitriol directed against Modi amuses me. A woman of her background should be careful lest someone decides to explore it. A 70 crore Sweetheart deal leveraging Tharoor's official position in the Government by a would-be is acceptable, whereas a mere mention of the term 50 core Girlfriend becomes derogatory. The entire English electronic media seems to have forgotten to see the "Quid-pro-quo" that is so freely mentioned in all the other scams being unearthed.

What really bothers me is the vitriol of these elitist feminists who seem to have been rankled badly and are berating Modi in severe terms. The same women seem to keep quiet and are never heard from on topics like the rape epidemic in Congress ruled Haryana or dowry cases or female trafficking or female feticide or domestic violence or innumerable other tortures being inflicted routinely on our sisters and daughters. That my dear readers, is what upsets me. Pushkar is not an innocent victim and is far from being helpless. Yet she gets all the help from these women. That speaks volumes about Pushkar and her supporters.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Mohan Bhagwat Needs To Dump Gadkari

I am still waiting for RSS and Gadkari to do the right thing. Hope is a strange thing. Makes you challenge your own beliefs. After it became abundantly clear that not only was Gadkari and incompetent and a loudmouth but also a corrupt crook, one believed that the RSS elders would force him out. After all, the RSS is bigger than them and Gadkari. What has transpired since has established that the RSS elders are men with usual weaknesses and huge egos. I suppose that since they inflicted Gadkari on the BJP, they are still supporting him. They say that it is BJP’s internal matter but whom are they fooling? In a heartfelt article, Mr. R Jaganathan quotes the following by Mohan Bhagwat:

"For every one bad thing, there are 10 good things happening in the country. But good things don't make news,"

"Gadkari as an individual and the BJP as party have to answer the questions raised."

"It's not important how much money has been earned. It's important how it has been put to use, whether it has been put to good use or not.”

Mr. Jaganathan dissects and discusses these points in a way, which you HAVE to read.

I do not expect Gadkari to do the right thing. He is a fat Indian who fainted in the sun. Even Sonia Gandhi, who is a European, has never fainted in the sun. What kind of privileged life has this guy led? Obviously, he is not the kind who can empathize with the aam aadmi. He is a man in cahoots with Sharad Pawar who along with others epitomizes all that is wrong with Indian politics. But we expect better things from the RSS elders.

Like many of us, I grew attending shakhas and listened to elders in our families about the greatness that was RSS. We have looked up to the organization and felt pride in being part of it. I have always sought out ways I can help the organization. A lot of times it feels that RSS is the only organization, which will save India as a home for Hindus. RSS elders have a responsibility, which they do not seem to understand. Mohan Bhagwat is not RSS. RSS will go on forever but he will not. He has no right to besmirch an organization because of his blind love for someone like Gadkari. In fact his love for Gadkari and hatred for Narendra Modi will enable Congress to win the next election.

Mr. Bhagwat needs to swallow his pride and do the right thing. Acknowledge his mistake and get rid of this man who is making the BJP look like a Congress clone instead of the party with a difference. If he does not then he is risking sullying the reputation of an organization we all love and he claims to protect.

Mr. Jaganathan's excellent article can be read at: http://www.firstpost.com/politics/rss-cant-do-a-sonia-with-bjp-power-without-responsibility-501958.html

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Congress Needs To Dump Gandhis And Chamchas

There are two periods of Congress rule that most people remember with some degree of pride. Shri LB Shastri’s tenure is remembered as a period when a man of unimpeachable integrity and honesty ruled the country. The other one is the era of Narsimha Rao. Even though he was caught in that bribery, scam, Rao is still remembered as a Chanakya who handled the economy and foreign policy with amazing dexterity. Lion’s share of the credit for opening up Indian economy goes to the man.

What that tells us is that most of the Gandhi family rule was peppered with scams, improprieties, colossal foreign policy blunders and personal misbehaviors overshadowing any achievements they may have had.

It is therefore mindboggling as to how and why has the Gandhi Family remained relevant to Congress. It is probably a combination of the family faithful and bankruptcy of alternate leadership that is responsible for it. Of course we as a society suffer from a collective Stockholm Syndrome and identify the entire freedom fight with the Nehru / Gandhi family. The family acquired too much money and political influence over the last 100 years that the Congress find it difficult to imagine life without them.

Without going into the history of corruption inflicted on our hapless nation by the family, we can say that the latest accusation against Robert Vadra is possibly the worst. I will try to explain the gravity of it. When Rajiv Gandhi was brought down in the Bofor’s scam and eventually assassinated, the family went into hibernation. Later in the 1990’s inability of a non-Gandhi leader to take control brought the family back into play and with a vengeance. A powerful coterie of “chamchas” protected them by carefully projecting a mystique of personality and mirage of “competence”. The family and the coterie and enjoyed all the riches that came along with power. Of course a totally inept BJP helped them.

However eventually everyone notices that the emperor is naked. But the chamcha coterie was not going to give up the fight. Sonia’s illness is treated with a greater degree of secrecy than our defence establishments. Her inability to govern and complicity in various mega scams has been protected with a pitbull like viciousness and focus. Rahul’s ineptness is kept from spilling over and the nation is teased and tantalized with the possibility of the Rajkumar stepping in and saving the day. They had all the help they could get from our corrupt and compliant pseudo-secular media. However, no matter what they did, the sheen had started to come off. But they always had a “bramha-astra” – Priyanka. She has always been dangled in front of Congress supporters as someone who can step in and save the day. Of course her ineffectiveness was exposed in the last UP elections. Nevertheless, it is the prospect of leadership rather than reality, which is still keeping the Congress in play.

However, with the latest scam involving Vadra who is one step away from Sonia puts Congress in an indefensible position. The entire Congress machinery is trying to put a fig leaf on a mountain of evidence. What we have to see is for how long are Congressmen going to continue to defend this family. At what point do they say that the family has now become a liability and are more trouble than worth? When do they say that the family is now hurting us rather than helping? When do they say that while others have been forced to resign or get sent to jail for scams (Natwar Singh, Shashi Tharoor, Kanimojhi or Raja) Vadra is being protected? When are the Pranab Mukherjee supporters and others who are loyal Congressmen but not family loyalists going to stand up and say that enough is enough?

If Congress has to stay relevant, they need to dump or sideline the Gandhi Family and its chamchas. I would say the time is now. Of course being a BJP supporter I would want them to stay on the course of self-destruction but India does need a viable national alternative to BJP if the regional party vultures are to be kept at bay.

Meanwhile, the aam aadmi, the media and BJP need to continue their unstinted support to Kejriwal and make sure that he is safe and protected from grievous harm. The BJP need to use this to their advantage and that will be discussed in another post.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Kejriwal: What Led To The Accusations?

I do not know but I have a theory and the events support it also. We all saw how Team Anna’s anti corruption movement galvanized the entire nation. It felt like we were watching the dawn of a new era. However, Congress’ crooked maneuvers and differences in Team Anna ended that. Our readers know that we had written a lot on the matter. Anna Hazare and his team had the same goal but different attitudes about it. The older and patient Anna was found to be Gandhian in attitude, relying on Satyagraha and believing that a piece of legislation would force people to do the right thing. The younger Kejriwal, smart, cynical and aggressive, had different and seemingly more realistic ideas. We were more aligned with Kejriwal except we DID NOT agree with the extreme leftist and pseudo-secular angles to his beliefs. Team Anna was a disaster in making and ended leaving both men to their instruments.

Kejriwal thought that the only way he could fight this was from the inside and formed his own party. However, he also realizes that he needed to stay relevant. He needed a bombshell to grab the limelight.

We all know how Netas and Babus steal and hide their loot. You just have to look at their relatives and all the benami properties. It is only a matter of political will and a strong backing of either the judiciary or media to expose these crooks. YSR Reddy’s family is worth close to 500 Crore and no one found out about it until Jagan decided to go against the party high command. There exists a code of honor among the thieves. Even the BJP politicians seem reluctant in going after their crooked rivals. Therefore it had to be an outsider to expose these crooks.

We had written about Robert Vadra crooked dealings a while ago. It was right there for someone willing to see. Anna Hazare could have done it. Maybe he was reluctant and hoped that once shamed, these people will come clean or the Lokpal bill would take care of it all. If true, he was wrong. These people are pathological criminals and not people with honor. Of course, because of Anna Hazare, Kejriwal became a national figure and thus had media’s backing. With his new-found political ambition he now has the will. Time was ripe to go and uncover these crooks. Of course with the nation focused on big scams, 500 Crores is a “small” amount but since it involved the “Sarkari Jamai” it was a potent bombshell. Just what Kejriwal needed.

For the first time, someone has taken the fight to 10 Janpath. It is akin to making enemies with the entire system and we tip our hat to Arvind Kejriwal for doing the nation a huge favor. The man has brass balls (forgive me for using pedestrian language but nothing else captures the spirit) and deserves the support of the media and the aam aadmi. He will not succeed politically and will need the help of the BJP but he is too rigid and blinded by his leftist attitudes to see that. That of course will be the subject of another post. For now Arvind Kejriwal is a hero.

Our old post on Robert Vadra can be read at: http://thenethindu.blogspot.com/2011/03/neta-babu-builder-nexus.html

Thursday, September 27, 2012

The Roots of the Muslim Rage against “blasphemy”

There was once a village and it was visited by a smooth talking charlatan who wanted the villagers to be in his control. So, he found the most gullible person in the village and convinced him that if he cut his nose, he would be able to see God. The hillbilly fell into the trap and had his nose cut. Now, he had a problem. If he said he cannot see God, he would be the laughing stock of the village. If he said he did, then he would be lying and the lie might be found out.

Our villager chose the second option. He claimed with all the vehemence at his command that he could see God and even talk to Him. He made a great show of devotion to the charlatan and made him his guru and savior, giving offerings and showing respect every day.

After a couple of days, when this matter became the talk of the village, a second villager fell into the same trap. He thought why not I see the God too. He had his nose cut by the first “nose-less” villager. He could see nothing. But the charlatan and the first “nose-less” one were looking at him expectantly. He now had the same choice as the first one. He too chose to live the lie for the rest of his life.

Over time, a majority of villagers were converted and their noses were removed, and they started living the lie that they were able to see God. As the lie they were living took deeper hold of their lives, they took to mocking those who refused to deform themselves in the hope of something they suspected was impossible. The “nosey” lot rather chose the path of checking everything rigorously before accepting it as truth. Over time, they developed the Scientific Method and made technological advances.

The nose-less lot then made rules that no one could question the fact of God being visible to them. If anyone did, either within the nose-less community, or anyone outside, he or she would be killed. They also deified the charlatan who, long dead now, had started the whole business of nose cutting. Any criticism or mocking of the charlatan threw the nose-less lot into uncontrollable rage. The more rational nosies sometimes applied their scientific reasoning to argue that there was no way God could become visible by cutting the nose. Each such instance resulted in rioting and arson, to a point when it took extraordinary courage on anyone's part to rake up the matter.

Over centuries, the original lie became part of the genetic code of the nose-less ones' culture. Very few amongst them dared to apostasize. The nosey ones either did not bother or, when the nose-less committed acts of violence to re-assert that they could see God, took to claiming that the faith of the nose-less was benign, and only a tiny minority of extremists amongst them indulged in violence.

In such a world, one person, out of hatred for nose-less lot (since he had lived in a country of nose-less ones where his kind were hopelessly outnumbered and, therefore, regularly abused), made a crude movie showing the original act of the charlatan when he fooled the first lot of nose-less ones into cutting their noses. Facing truth they had avoided for all their lives, and indeed generations, was impossible for the nose-less. But letting the filmmaker get away with this act of defiance would tantamount to admitting that indeed their ancestors had been fooled into cutting their noses. So they felt the need to silence the filmmaker. Now there was problem. The filmmaker lived in a powerful country of “nosey” people. This powerful country had no law binding people not to tell the truth about the charlatan. So the rage of the nose-less found outlets in acts of violence against all symbols of the powerful nosey country – flags, effigies, embassy buildings, and in one case, an ambassador and his companions.

As of the time of writing, the rage shows no sign of abetting. Moreover, trouble may be expected even after the violence abates. Because some “nosey” person will again rake up the charlatanry of the charlatan. Maybe this time, the re-creation of history may be artistic, authentic and interesting. Nose-less ones can be seen to be mortally afraid of that. After having run away from the truth for centuries, they are finding it increasingly hard to avoid it. This writer believes that there will be a major fight between the nose-less and the nosey before the truth finally prevails.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Political Crisis In Delhi

The current crisis in Delhi was just a matter of time. A despotic, dynastic money and power hungry party like Congress cobbling a government with amoral regional parties is not a recipe for stability. What I would like to do is examine the stands of various political parties and how they are behaving during this current crisis.

Congress: In 2004, Sonia Gandhi gave up the post of PM but not power. She was and still is the defacto PM. Manmohan Singh was just a patsy who was only too happy to become the PM. This man who had never won an election found himself at the top post. Power went to his head and his lust for power has been exposed again and again. The power sharing between Singh and Gandhi was a recipe for disaster because all the credit went to the Gandhi family and blame to Singh. Moreover, Sonia and her coterie believed in stealing (themselves and their allies) and bribing (allies and the Indian voter through all the freebies). Manmohan Singh could not do anything right even if he wanted to. Prudent fiscal policies were replaced with populism. Cheap diesel prices were costing various oil companies in excess of 40,000 crore. That is just one example.
Faced with the current disaster, the Congress continues with the corrupt and tired politics of survival. If not Mamata then Mulayam. If not Karunanidhi then Mayawati. How did we keep electing a party, bereft of ideology with a self-serving agenda?

BJP: An idea, which instead of evolving, exploded on the national scene. Opportunists filled the vacuum. The existing cadre could not resist the trappings of power. After Atalji, the party went around like a headless chicken, completely unable to exploit crisis after crisis in Congress. Even now, they have more PM aspirants than genuine leaders. Until they decide their leadership issues, Congress has nothing to fear, now or 2014.

Samajwadi Party: Mulayam Singh represents all that is wrong with Indian politics. Thanks to caste / minority politics, he is in power again. For him, it is all about his family and his own ambition / survival. He is running from pillar to post trying to resuscitate that decomposed corpse of the third front. Once he realizes that his dreams of becoming PM are not going to come true then he will demand the best possible deal from the Central government. Right now, no matter what he says or does, he will not let the UPA government fail because he can squeeze large amount of money from them and use it to prop up his son’s government in UP which is turning out to be a lot worse than Mayawati regime (an impressive feat indeed). After bribing the gullible UP voters, he thinks that around 40 Loksabha seats from UP will make him a kingmaker. Plum posts in the central government and lots of undeserved money for the state will be the reward.

Bahujan Samajwadi Part and DMK: Both these parties are major losers in their state elections. An early election is not in their favor because they need SP and AIDMK to fail so they can win some seats. These two will huff and puff but will continue to support the UPA. The ultimate goals of these parties in same as that of SP.

Trinamool Congress: Mamata Bannerjee has regained some of her reputation by making good on her threat. However, she is well aware of the fact that the Commies got more than 40% of votes in the last state elections and are going to be a factor in the next elections. She needs the centre money to make her administration look good. However, her poor sense of politics left her vulnerable the Congress dirty tricks department. Now she hopes that her momentum will carry her in the central elections.

JD: Nitish’s tricks have fallen flat. People like him as the CM of Bihar but not as a national figure. His most recent statement that he will support anyone who can give Bihar a special status affirms his status as a regional leader. I hope that he gives up his pipe dream of becoming a PM and continues to do good work in Bihar. He still has a very long way to go there.

Various Communist Parties: They are like the vultures soaring over carcasses. They are waiting for Mamata to stumble and they may not have to wait long. As long as voters in Poschim Bongo think that they have to choose between TMC and Communists, the commies have hope and the state does not.

Other regional parties have similar stands or positions on the matter. Point being that as long as the voters continue on this self-destructive path of mixing local and national concerns, India will continue to lose. Of course the major national parties can address local concerns by giving their state units a greater degree of autonomy. That is the only way out of this mess.