India's Obama

I too agree that a person who defends A Raja in public, orders closure of 'Q' cases, says nothing against the fatwa banning Vande mataram, presides over dynasties taking more than lions share of his cabinet, concedes unconditional talks to Pak in Egypt etc  is surely a suave politician

And the learned man's economics is best known to people who are still waiting for those elusive reforms which have only been talked about and to people who go out to buy potatoes and onions

Manmohan singh is surely India's Obama... if only Times Of India, Hindustan Times and Indian Express had nobel with them.

Disjoint Statement

The joint statement issued in Egypt has only one meaning - India went there as a victim of terror but came back with Balochistan-terror guilt.

That joint statement was drafted poorly has been accepted even by Menon. But delinking terror & talks and Balochistan are too many bungles in one joint statement. But I must say - "delinking of talks with terror activities on either side" is not new... Manmohan singh had committed a similar blunder in Havana (2005 if I recall correctly). It was later being famously referred to as 'Gujranwala School of Foreign Policy'. A line of thinking that deludes people into believing that the problems could be solved by them because they are more honest, visionary and belong to that part of the world and hence know them quite well. In India Self-delusion is an epidemic.

Apologist of this government still might say... but what's in a statement...
But Statements are important... in this context all the more... It was only one statement made by Nehru... that is bleeding India to this date... It is one statement on plebiscite... which any pakistani or Kashmiri-separatist fall back to every time they are pushed to the wall…

"What are India's Options?" Apologist say.. "Isn't talking with Pakistan the only option left with us?" First of all when you accept that there are no options you have already lost the plot. You don't even need to wait for a battle to lose... In that case you can only hope for mercy. Since you have no options, pray to God that they don't exercise their options anytime in future.

If you don't have options, then create one. How has a small country created so many options but India which seeks being bracketed with the most powerful on planet has no options as the only option. There are no shortcuts to peace. It has to be built on mutual trust and respect. If Pakistan is so bent on making peace with India, let them give up on all ISI modules active in India. Let them make that one step, least of all, handover Dawood to India. Small steps can make big gestures. You won't even need to talk about any big re-write then (refer Shekhar Gupta's article in IE, June 25th).

Sometimes an alternate strategy - of not capitulating to self-delusionary pressure within 6 months , of putting up an image of grief, loss and anger, of talking tough and minimum, and not subsequently saying that it was mistakenly done in full media glare, of doing and occasional namaste or shastriyakal instead of frequent aadaabs, of telling the terrorists that we are going to come hard on you and not put their execution in a queue (on Number-22), of canceling some innocuous activities like export import of cricket, ghazals and goods, building strategic interests encircling the enemy, of talking less about irrelevant borders (well the terrorists did make the borders irrelevant though...) might force enemy into believing that we also have options!

Sons of Fortune

So the elections are over and we have been assured by media of a Prime Minister this time around. Also the hooplah around young turks is interesting. Manmohan Singh (77), Pranab Mukherjee (74), A K Antony (69), S M Krishna (77) and Kapil Sibal (61) and P Chidambram (64) have really made the young India roaring with glory on their representation.

Then it was said that Prime Minister will discontinue his glorious tradition of keeping people with 'tainted' backgrounds in his cabinet. So we would be deprived of the likes of Shibu Soren, Lalu Yadav, J P Yadav and others who kept him in power for 5 years. Indeed he wouldn't include A Raja, we were fed, inspite of him being a young turk (46) because PM disliked tainted people and he does not compromise with integrity of ministers and finally he is firm and his writ will run this time etc etc. When finally he was inducted we were told that the PM is furious. That should satisfy all.

By this time Rajiv Gandhi's son had ensured that - Madhav Rao Scindhia's son, Jitendra Prasad's son, Rajesh Pilot's son (also Abdullah's son in law), C P N Singh's son, Subhash Yadav's son, Sangma's daughter, Sheikh Abdullah's son, Karunanishi's son, Karunanidhi's grand nephew, Madhav Singh Solanki's son, Dr Zakir Hussain's (former president of India) grandson, Captain Amrinder kaur's (forrmer CM, punjab) wife, Jagjivan Ram's daughter so on and so forth - deepen democracy with young turk representation even as he himself sacrifices an MoS.

One more country where democracy is deepening in such a manner is Pakistan. Bhutto's (original bhutto's daughter) husband, kasuri's son, geelani's son and many more vouch for more democracy as they need to overthrow military every time to become democratic. Such passion is still to be tested in India but the preparations are in place.

To deepen the secularism of India D Zakir Hussain's grandson has been handed over the ministry of minorities something... in appreciation of the defense he had put up for SIMI when it was banned by communal parties in 2002.

Nevertheless, since identity politics is receding, the most vociferous member of Parliament has been unanimously chosen as Speaker. The fact that Babu Jagjivan Ram's daughter is a dalit and women is an absolute coincidence and cannot be treated as a disqualification.

Heard something on change?... we shall get one... after committed Judiciary and committed media and press of the 70s, dawns the era of committed PMs, Presidents, Governers, election commissions, CBIs...

An Open Letter to Abdul Rehman Antulay

Sir,

This is to appreciate that you are the symbol of all that is wrong with Indian Politics. If India continues to suffer it is because of you and other likeminded people in so called secular parties who don't give us enough breaks. Indeed you are the monument of the perverse forms of Secularism in India. But I concede, you are a monument nevertheless.

Sir, I do know a little bit about you, unlike many people in India. I am just unable to forget about Indira Gandhi Pristhan trust. I would again like to stress that unlike many of your colleagues inside Parliament; you were not accused of corruption, but convicted by Mumbai High Court. Then you were the State CM... Now you are a senior Union Minister. It must have been an exceptional case of corruption so as to get rewarded with a central role.

With this piece of exceptional creativity that you have shown, I am sure you'll be rewarded with something better than minority appeasement ministry next time. I would suggest that you should settle for nothing less than a PM or Home Minister. After all - That Hemant Karkare could be fixed by Hindu Zionists can only be attributed to Pakistan or you is by itself a great leap forward for the government trying to show that it is tough on terror.

Sir, you cannot be let off unless you are reminded that you have done the greatest service to the nation through Sachar Committee ramblings. But for every underprivileged muslim, there are three underprivileged hindus in this country. This however, does not serve to your victimhood interests. But sir, more than ninety percent of income tax raids have been made on Hindus. Please see to it next time that it is done in proportion to the population of India. It is unfair and I am already sensing some Khilafati conspiracy.

Sir, I don't mind a beleaguered Congress again, but you should be most respectfully given a boot for being so kind to the national interests. We can do better with people who are atleast not batting for Pakistan. One of the appeasement tactics resulted in showing Pakistan that Samjhauta Blasts were also coordinated by Hindu Zionists, albeit for only one day. Because the next day it was clarified by Zionists in your own government that it was a ISI handiwork. Nevertheless, Pakistan will always be obliged to you for this one-day self goal.

Sir, Please don't impose your greatness on this nation. We are too small for you. You should look for bigger things in life and leave politics to lesser mortals.

Regards
Gkambasta

Terror Should be Politicized

Because that seems to be the only way they can be forced to work. It is only the fear of 'loss-of-power' that propels political parties. It was not out of proverbial 'taking-responsibility' that some of our esteemed politicians had to resign. UPA (actually Congress) feared a backlash - It forced them to act. This time the action was finding scapegoats and making long speeches- the text of which was more than ninety-percent borrowed from what the communal elements of Indian Politics, the principal opposition had been telling them till the other day. In any case, better late then never. In fact it took so long for the government to even think of acting is because terror was not properly politicized. Otherwise we might have seen some action earlier.

Media was very clever in deflecting the angst against the Government as anger over the whole political class. So, inspite of repealing POTA, inspite of not hanging Afzal, inspite of doing absolutely nothing to make the intelligence and Policing systems more robust and effective - we are being fed that this is not the failure of Government - but that of the whole political class, including those who have no executive powers. Its all eyewash. For me the decision making body is the Govt. The onus of all successes and failures ultimately lies with the government. There is no point in blaming opposition party for the failures of the government. And this is precisely the reason that the (so-called) secular class prefers Terrorism(particularly the islamic variant) to be de-politicized. Till the other day they were shouting that the "Inflation" should not be politicized. According to them all issues except the farce of "saffron terror" should be kept out of politics in the national interest. They spoke against the atrocities of Tamils in Sri lanka because they feared that DMK may walk out, they agreed on the Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti demands because they feared electoral losses in Jammu, they went back on the "There-is-no-Ram" affidavit because they feared a Hindu Backlash... Everywhere it is politics that restores the equilibrium. It is like the invisible hand of Adam Smith.

And then there is call for unity. Unity in what? Inaction?? For the last four and half years the only action that has been done to counter the terrorists is - to wish them away. Or call to address the invisible "root causes". Unless this inaction results in a political loss this (or for that matter no) government is going to act. But even before the Govt could promise to do anything, leave along doing anything - the thugs in the liberal media are out to project Sheela Dixit's win in Delhi as a vote for inaction of UPA on the terror front. They said that people rejected terror as Poll issue. It also means that the whole country can now safely go back to the pre-26/11 days.

Moral of the story - If you want any concrete action on terror, the best way you can ensure that is by voting anyone who is soft on terror out of power. Which establishes my premise – Terror should be Politicized.

Start again

Reforms: Insurance Bill

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The BJP is opposing increasing of FDI in Insurance sector. Their argument is that this government has lost legitimacy (after cash for votes scam) and that this government has virtually slept through 4 and half years without any reforms. So it cannot help this government pass this bill and claim a reformist tag.

Again reforms are a casualty to politics.

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Marathi-North Indian debate

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India is slowly becoming a nation of permanently aggrieved. Whether Bihari or Maharashtrian, upper caste or lower caste, Hindus or Muslims, all feel they are being victimized. The sanity lies in finding a center which is absent today. Hopefully we will have a government and a Prime Minister in next elections.

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Nuclear Deal

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What is bound to happen naturally will happen. If there is anything as clash of civilizations, then India and US are on the same side. There is some amount of subjectivity in the interpretation of the deal. India needs to walk carefully and diplomatically now. It has a best friend and a dangerous ally with it.

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Terrorism

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Either we fight all forms of fanaticism or get perished. There is no middle-ground. It is not easy for a country to fight insurgents, separatists, extremists, terrorists without a Prime Minister and a Home Minister. Let’s hope to elect one in the next General Elections.

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Economic Recession

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Manmohan Singh said that we need to focus on infrastructure to get out of recession. The statement was valid for last 60 years and will be valid for next thousand years. My problem is that he is not a consultant to PM but a PM himself. What has he done for infrastructure growth in the last four and half years? Even the Highway Programs started by Vajpayee is moving at less than snails speed.

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With this let us start Vivaad all over again

Some Eminent Journalists II - Modi & Media

The principle opposition in Gujarat - the Media - has lost it hands down. The people of the state have denied the entry to secular evangelists who believe that only terrorists have human rights and that their name should be spoken in a manner they think is good for the people of India.

Such intolerance towards the other ideology and such self-righteousness is fetching diminishing returns. Even the congress which used the media to further its own interest realize now that people are going more by what they see around them then by secular Gospels.

I have never seen media getting such obsessed with one personality in my life. They say they were obsessed with Gandhi too. That is however a different issue. But the manner in which they tried to manufacture a Hitler out of Modi has exposed their intellectual hollowness and fanaticism. If you just go through the Modi Special issue of Outlook where everything from his Yoga to workaholicism has been used to create an image that reminds of a German bigot.

However, others are not behind -


"....Even Hitler came through democratic election..." - How does that make any person who wins elections, Hitler?

"...He is dangerous because he is not corrupt..." - This Gem is from Ashish Nandy, the famous sociologist.

"...Will BJP want a person who does not get a Visa to go to USA, to become a PM candidate..." - (Barkha Dutt)
Shall we then have an election in US first, as to who they approve should become our PM candidate?

"...Here is the new religiosity of Moditva.Hinduism is democratized not elite, congregational not individualistic, loud not quite. Dandiya on the street sends out a strong message that there are no weak Hindus..." (Sagarika Ghosh, CNN-IBN)

It is very interesting how she is trying hard to push her point down our throat. Dandiya on the streets was existent before Modi and it'll be there after him too. But Sagarika Ghosh believes that unless you don't cow down, that unless you don't confine your religiosity to the closed doors of your house, you are not a true Hindu... In fact you are a militant playing into the hands of Modi.


Inspired by their ideological convictions they started inventing 'spins' to the whole campaign. It progressed in stages -

1st stage - All are angry with Modi in Gujarat. The Patels, the Kolis, the dalits, the Muslims, the farmers, the adivasis, the RSS, the VHP, the Bajrang Dal, and BJP itself. Are bhai, if all are angry then he would lose in any case. Then why are you bothered so much. But in heart they knew - that 2 patels is not the patel samaj, that 1 RSS, 2 VHP, 5 BJP members and a few Bajrangis were individuals and not the organization. That the whole sangh cadre was with modi is was a tactical ommission.

2nd Stage - Modi is not drawing crowd. Sonia is.

3rd Stage - Sonia has shown 'spine' in calling spade a spade. It was only when the maut ke saudagars were reversed that media conceded that a fatal mistake has been done.

4th stage - When all such spins failed. Then exit polls were out showing marginal victory or even a possible defeat of BJP.

5th stage - This was the epitome of wishful thinking. When everything else failed then they called for the mother of all spins - That even if he wins, BJP loses. And that Advani would be challenged. And because of which there is going to be chaos .



The spins have not stopped yet. The winner is Ashok Mitra. He analysed that Modi won because people of Gujarat were angry from Congress as Sardar patel did not become the first PM of India.(Todays Telegraph)


The "counter" has been presented best by Lord Meghnad Desai in todays Times of India -

"... On TV, people asserted that a man who had just won a second election in a row with a two-thirds seat count was a dictator. He had to be just because he was not one of them.

I know the feeling well. I had similar feelings - as a member of the British Labour Party - as my party lost election after election to Margaret Thatcher. All the 'right-minded' people like myself and my friends thought she was authoritarian, strident and more or less fascist.

Yet the Great British Public went on voting for her and we kept losing. It was only after three defeats that we began to ask whether we had not got something wrong and whether the public was trying to tell us something.

After a fourth defeat even without Margaret Thatcher, the Labour Party decided to change. It adapted to the positive kernel in the Tory package. Thatcher, far from being reviled as an authoritarian monster, is now recognised as one of the greatest British prime ministers of the post-war period. ..."


Of course Modi is still not a Thatcher or a Ronald Reagan. But as Reagonomics, as Thatcherism, we have a Moditva. Because Moditva much like them believes in entrepreneurship, creation of wealth,empowerment to the poor, less subsidies, and even less Government interference. To top it all he has no ideological confusions on national identity and security and is firmly rooted in the traditions of Bharat. That makes him an absolute opposite of all that the Communists and the leftist stand for. This is what makes him different, a Rightist and hence an object of hatred for people who have not grown out of their Nehruvian predilections. In a TV debate Swami Aiyer said that he had not seen a politician who stopped Power theft and still managed to win election.

I think, people make a mistake in judging Modi. He is not an ordinary, another run-of-mill politician. And that is why he is not governed by wishful contours of the left-liberal. Swapan Dasgupta has most aptly called him the 'Voice of Future' and he was even more correct when he said that - 'After Mahatma one more Gujarati is going to set the national agenda'.