Religion and Culture

Am interesting disucssion over breakfast on how Hinduism started off as a the most liberal and logical religion or way of life, got converted into symbolism , hypocrisy and tool at hands of so-called Gurus and Babas.

The ancient Hindu books very clearly draw a distinction between 'naman' (bow head in respect) and to touch feet. The books said that every elder, learned one, brave one, honest one and all those who deserved respect need to be bowed to but not touch their feet. Touhcing feet was limited to parents, teachers, motherland (since concept of nation was not yet born) and God. Apart from these, the real Hinduism did not promote the touching of feet.

But today touching of feet has become a joke. We see the trend in political and social curcuits. Leaders feet are touched as if they are God and every Godman thinks he is an incarnation of Vishnu and we see people touching their feet. Just a small gesture as touching feet gives deep insight into the corrution of this amazing religion apart from showing the inferiority mentality that has been bred in by years of slavery and before that the wrong interpretation of Hindu books.

The Political Blogging moves from here

Now that I have started a new blog mainly for the blogging on politics, governance, ideologies etc, this blog here will be about me, life and other things. To check the political blog, go to http://greatindiandemocracy.blogspot.com/

A candle right up the rear end

Six months gone and this is what we have as 'action' for 26/11

Ram Pradhan Report absolves the government - state and central from all charges of negligence and intelligence failure. It also clears Mumbai Police and Maharashtra Home Department of all charges of inaction and lack of preparedness.
Kasab's trial is becoming a mockery now with the Defence Counsel's time buying tactics and now a witness goofing up.
Vilasrao Deshmukh who was universally found the inefficient CM has been rewarded for his 'inefficiency' with a cabinet berth.

So, rejoice Mumbai and India as the government of India has proceeded to make a mockery of people's wish and desire to action. As for those who took out candle llight marches, this is one burning candle the government has shoved right up your rear end.

Elections and after

Before I dwell on the state of mind, I would congratulate the winners of yesterday namely Congress. They beat us outright and won the right to rule for next 5 years. Rahul Gandhi and Manmohan Singh emerged real winners. Maybe time for the BJP senior and a rare politician L K Advani to step into political sunset.

Last few months, I have been involved in BJP campaign both online and offline. So yesterday was a day of tears, shock and disappointment. Indian voters have rejected us outright and it's time to go back to building organisation and winning the voter trust again.

That's why the morning after is different than yesterday. Yesterday was the day to lick the wounds and toay is the day to resolve to go back and work for the change we have hoped and so far worked for.

No ways, I am quitting politics and the party. I am here to stay and will continue till the time politics or BJP does not disillusion me. The results may have disappointed me but they certainly have not left me dejected with either - politics or BJP

Finally as one of the many small warriors in this democratic fight, I would be somewhere responsible for the loss.

Mumbai Votes

Mumbai, Please Vote and Vote Sensibly

Mumbai Votes

View more presentations from jitengajaria.

Questions for the sitting MPs in Mumbai

These are some of the questions one would like to ask the sitting MPs who are contesting again - Priya Dutt, Milind Deora, Gurudas Kamat, Eknath Gaikwad - all from Congress and Mohan Rawale from Shiv Sena

• Where were you when Mumbai was flooded?
• What did you do after the floods to ensure relief and rehabilitation?
• Why isn't the work on Mithi River not yet completed as per court ruling?
• Why did it need an ex-MP (Dr. Kirit Somaiya) instead of sitting MPs to get whatever work has been done on Mithi cleaning?
• Why haven't the victoms of train blast not yet received the relief promised?
• Why has government gone slow on the blast trials?
• Why have some accused gone scot-free?
• Did you take the Home Minister to task for making your city unsafe?
• Have you given an appraisal of all the work done by you so far?
• How much money have you spent from MP funds on your constituency?
• Central Government promised a huge amount in last 5 years for Mumbai but less than 15% has been received. Why have you not tried to bring the money into the city?
• What have you done for the mill workers who have lost their jobs and now their lands?
• What's your stand against regularisation of slums as done by Maharashtra Government regularly in last 8 years?
• What have you done in last 5 years for the trains and roadways in Mumbai?
• Why is the Bandra Worli Sea Link not yet over?
• Why is that post 2004, most projects pertaining to Mumbai have taken such long time?
• What's your stand on local involvement during Mumbai attacks?
• Why have you not pressed for the removal of top cops, bureaucrats?
• Why did you not speak up during the MNS violence?
• What did you do when anti-Bush protestors in Azad Maidan got violent and damaged public property?

Why BJP?

So far, we have tried to see the glaring failures on the UPA and the Congress party both in Neeti (policies) and Niyati (desires). But this one to see why vote for BJP. What are the policies they promise for a better future? What is their wishlist?

Infrastructure - NDA and specially BJP has already proven that when it comes to infrastructure development, they are possibly the best. Be it the Vajpayee government or Modi government in Gujarat or Nitish Kumar in Bihar or Maj Gen (Retd) B C Khanduri in Uttarakhand. They have brought visible changes in the infrastructure in their states. BJP has already released it's Infrastructure Vision which includes interlinking of rivers, cleaning of Ganga river, giving the much needed push to the road project successful in earlier NDA govt and made to RIP by UPA. They also talk about the fast track in the power reforms.

Economy- Villages are they say are the real India. And in last 5 years, agriculture has been given the raw deal. Isn't it a sad thing that the food provider of the country is dying today because of hunger? BJP has already announced it's package for the farmers. Apart from this, the curbs need to be put on the forward trading of essential commodities. This in a large way was responsible for the farmers not getting the right price. BJP has in its manifesto ahs rightly said that the economy can thrive only when the consumer has money in his pocket (own money and not borrowed like in credit cards). This can only happen with a sympathetic view towards taxations specially for the middle class. Only if the middle class has money, they will be able to spend it. Indian middle class is the largest consumer market in the world and has the strength to turn an economy to positive.

Girl Child Welfare - No country can progress till the time the women in the country are kept away from education. The Ladli Laxmi Yojana successful in BJP rules MP is the scheme which tries to ensure that the girl child is incentivised and empowered for education. The scheme ensures the girl getting cash everytime she moves to the next level in educaiton and a large amount when she complete 12th. This ensures that girl child is given education till then and also that she has means to study further.

Security - BJP has always shown that when it comes to internal security, it does not fall back on vote bank politics. The zero tolerance to terror policy ensures that the accused when caught are given a quick and strong punishment so as to deter others. Many might talk of riots but if you see the NDA rule in centre, there was one riot in entire 7 years whereas we have seen many riot scarred cities in last 5 years or even before NDA rule.

Strong Leader - Today the country needs tough decisions. Does the country have the time to wait for 27 blasts for a Home Minsiter to be changed? Does the country need a cabinet without Finance Minister when it is facing recession? The answer is no. The country needs a leader who can lead from front and can take quick decisions. L K Advani is the strong leader India awaits. Though opposition likes to talk only of Kandahar, one should look at Parliament Attack or the hostage crisis at Akshardham Temple in Gujarat. In the first case, the accused were brought to books in record time and in the second case the entire hostage crisis was resolved strongly in less than 6 hours. Shows that L K Advani does not waste time in taking strong decisions.

This election is about a change. And change is what India needs. India today needs the BJP more than it ever did.

Knowing the PM

While the NDA PM candidate L K Advani has spent most of his life in public life and so there is ample amount of information on his life, one hardly knows of PM Manmohan Singh's career before 1991. So what better to do on a weekend and understand the professional roots and natural loyalties of the PM.

One look at his writings and speeches before 1990 and one gets a clear understanding that he actually was a fan of the Nehruvian style of economy. Infact some of his preferred writers and teachers were communists. His early essays and his speeches specially on Government control over prices are indicators of his liking towars the license raj.

If we then move to his days as bureaucrat, the greatest impact on his professional life as admitted by him was P N Haksar, then advisor to Indira Gandhi and known by most as the key person behind the license raj, nationalisation of banks, ties with USSR, bringing bureaucrats including intelligence services under government control. He also has been credited with the start of darbar culture in Congress and the grand split in Congress which over a period of time led to Emergency.

In the meantime, right from early 70s to mid 80s, Manmohan Singh was a crucial figure in economic affairs of the country holding various positions as Finance Secy, Reserve Bank Governor, Member of Planning Commission. This period which many analysts recall as the darkest period in Indian economy, was complete with high inflation, a huge debt trap and stories of financial corruption in various ministries. Manmohan Singh at that time seems to have behaved just like a bureaucrat with no desire to do things the right way. Some of the 'highlights' of his tenure in various positions are

Highest rate of inflation - 30%
Creating the cartel culture in 1973 under the guise of nationalising wholesale trading of foodgrains

He showed his first signs of loyalty towards Gandhi family by first joining Chandra Shekhar government as an advisor when Rajiv Gandhi led Congress supported it and later by resigning when the support was withdrawn. This period if we all remember was the time when India was grappling with serious issues on internal security, economic doom and rising caste-religion conflicts. But to Manmohan Singh, loyalty to family was more important than loyalty to country's call in distress.

And now he wants 100 more days to repair the economy. Believe him at your own risk.

Blackmailing the voters

Serve, Please, Appease, Buy.. we have seen it all. Now comes threaaten. Never heard of voters being blackmailed. But 2 senior ministers in Assam have crossed this milestone too.

"You must remember that we will be minister even after the Lok Sabha elections," said Congress minister Rockybul Hussain to an election rally in Nagaon. That sounded more like the hooligans on the street. Another minister Himanta Biswa Sarma offended the electorate in Barpeta when he said, "If Congress candidate is not elected from this seat, it would be difficult for them to set up the medical college which chief minister Tarun Gogoi had announced before the elections."

Jai Ho for Democracy

Dining with the enemy

Am avoiding the usage of much used phrase 'Sleeping with the Enemy' since I am talking about a lady. This is about the worst kind of political oppotunism.

Remember who and why was I K Gujral's government brought down in 97-98? Well, by Madam Sonia and Congress on issue of relationship between DMK and LTTE and their indicment in Rajiv Gandhi murder. Nearly a decade later now, Sonia finds it okay to digest Karunanidhi's statement heralding LTTE and Prabhakaran as a hero. But no words from Sonia, just because she needs his support to remain in power.

This is the opportunism of the worst kinds. Parties and politicians might have shown political or even social lack of ethics. But this is just a case of personal ethics and the Gandhi family is found seriously lacking those ethics. I wonder how a family which can't stand upto their own kin's 'murderers and their supporters', can stand up for the safety, security and self respect of the Indians.

Why will Mulayam Singh's manefesto work?

Mulayam Singh's SP came up with the most reggresive manifesto ever created. It generated a lot of criticism all over. But one look at the manifesto and Mulayam's base catchment area of voters will show why the manifesto can work well for him.

Mulayam Singh does not really care for the voters residing in cities and smaller towns. His base is the rural voters and specially the Madrasa bred rural Muslim vote. This section of the society has always thwarted attempts to modernise - be it English education or be it computers in Madrasas. Remember the time Murli Manohar Joshi tried to modernise them and bring them at par with other educational bodies? He was vehemently opposed by this section. They have been huddled into thinking that anything modern is anti-Islam.

For this section, English and computers are nothing but Zionist conspiracies. And so for this group, the manifesto might actually be sweet sound and they could posisbly end up voting for the SP.

PM and democratic values or lack of it

I won't allow Advani to be the PM candidate
Shun the independents because they trouble Congress
Mayawati should not think of becoming the PM

The above words which were used to show the PM's bravdo actually do nothing but show his background. He was a bureaucrat to start with and at heart still remains one.
The statements made above plus his reluctance to contest elections prove that Dr. Manmohan Singh might have become the PM of the 2nd largest democracy by luck but his core values are still not accustomed to democracy.

His bureacratic background ensures blind loyalty to his bosses (read Gandhis) and a desperation to cling on to the chair at any cost and avoid opposition by hook or crook. That also possibly explains the lack of acocuntablity that one has seen in the state of affairs. No one is allowed to question him and his govenment on terror attacks, recession, price rise, unemployment, lack of progress in infrastructure development etc.

Please answer Teesta

The cat is out of the bag. While nobody can justify riots and killings, few people went overboard in talking about 2002 post Godhra riots. No, I am not saying this. The Special Investigative Team which owes no allegiance to Gujarat Government is saying this.

The SIT team on 13th April said that Teesta and few other NGOs raked up false cases, tutored witnesses and more. The SIT has found no truth in atleast 3 high profile cases inclluding the alleged rape and foetus killing of Kausar Bano.

Whether this was to shame Gujarat government or to fill their own pockets can be anybody's guess.

This brings us to the larger question. Should not likes of Teesta be brought to books and punished for playing with the law of the land. It is sad that the so-called activists and guardians of Indian democracy and secularism stoop so low to fulfill their political, professional and financial greed.

Source - Times of India, Tuesday, 14th April 2009

Brave words, Mr. PM?

After a period of nearly 2 years, the PM spoke tough. Last time the PM spoke tough, he had to eat his own words. Remember the exchange about Left's bark and bite and how the PM had to retreat. And this time against L K Advani. But what the Manmohan Singh forgot was that brave words which are not backed with facts are seen as acts of desperation. Let's take a look at lack of facts in his swipe against Advani.

If Manmohan Singh as so pained by Babri demolition, why did he cling on as Finance Minister for 4 years after that incident? He was the number 2 in Narsimha Rao govt but he did not do anything during the demolition or riots after that. Maybe being a habitual helpless one, he was helpless then too.
Congress rakes up Kandahar every time the word terror is mentioned. What they forget is that the policy of bowing down to terrorists was started by their friend Mufti Mohd Sayyed who released terrorists in exchange of his daughters. And later Narsimha Rao continued the tradition by giving safe passage and packed biryanis to Mast Gul, the dreaded terrorist. And if the PM forgot, he was the key member of the cabinet then too. The Kandahar incident was a sad one and for an avid supporter llike me, a wrong decision. But does one wrong decision justify the terror attacks for last 5 years and Congress' and their allies refusal to stop playing minority appeasement politics.
PM says he is not a man of words but of action. Then please ask him, where are the reforms he promised? Where are the roads NDA started? How is it that inspite of having a 'dream financial team' and an eminient economist as PM, India is in terrible reccession, unemployment and price rise? What action did PM take against tainted ministers? What about action against Afzal Guru? The only time a minister was kicked for non performance was when Madam demanded after 4 yrs of inaction in case of Shivraj Patil. And PM says he is a man of action.
Finally, his statement that he would have resigned had Nuke deal not gone through. It is sad that our PM does not think suicide of thousands of farmers, 27 bomb blasts and a terror attack leaving more than a thousand dead or growing number of unemployed youth was a blot on his reputation. The promise to George Bush is more important to him than a promise to this country. Loyalty to 10 Janpath seems more important to him than loyalty to the nation.

Shame on you, Mr. PM

Media and EC under scanner now for Model Code of Conduct

EC and Media which passed strict remarks against Varun Gandhi are now under Model Code of Conduct scanner. The nation is watching on their reaction to the hate speech by AP Congress Chief Srinivas. He has said that he will chop of hands of anyone who dares touch minorities. This is as serious a hate speech as Varun Gandhi's. Similarly Laloo too has said similar words.

The ball is in the court of the media and EC. This is their chance to show they aren't biased. Their chance to follow the Model Code of Conduct.

Pre Poll Alliances v/s Post Poll Alliances

Now that the elections are in the phase where all parties have sounded the war cry, one needs to see how alliances are shaping up and how it impacts Indian polity.

Cut to 1998 when NDA formed the government. Since they did not have the requisite numbers they dto build post pall alliances with AIADMK, TDP and TMC. This resulted in governance taking a backstage and survival became the key. Similar thing happened with the last UPA government. Since UPA was a post poll alliance, opportunism was more rampant than policies and governance. The result is for all to see. India wasted the momentum built by NDA government between 1999-2004. No major reforms could be pushed and government was always under threat from Left, DMK, JMM etc. One of the biggest calamities of this post poll alliance was that India for time in history had so many tainted ministers.

But now remember the period 1999-2004. NDA had come to power as a pre-poll alliance and this helped in smooth functioning of the govt and passage of most bills and policies. India for the first time in history saw an impressive infrastructure building and economic reforms.

This time the 2 major alliances are UPA (Congress + NCP + DMK + TC) and NDA (BJP +INLD + Akali Dal + Shiv Sena + JDU + RLD + AGP). Rest all the 3rd and 4th fronts are a bunch of opportunists. If they have a say in next government, corrupton and nepotism will increase. So in view of betterment of the country, one should vote only for pre poll alliance which have been together and are powerful even today.

Youth Leadership

He is 38 yrs young. Has been oe of the youngest MPs chosen for the best MP award by fellow MPs. His constituency is the 4th largest in India. He has been fore-front in talking about Chinese agressive designs on AP. He has been one of the stellar performers in the current Lok Sabha. A lecturer in Botany, does he look like someone who can lay claim to being a youth leader and a barometer of youth's aspirations in India? Can you predict who can it be?

Tough, isn't it? No, it's not one of those handpicked from a dynasty and now hailed as our saviour and media has never or at the best hardly spoken about him.

The name is Kiren Rijiju. Never heard of him, right?Stumped, aren't you? But yeah, this person is Kiren Rijiju, MP from Arunachal Pradesh. A father of 3, he is also the National Secy of BJP. To compare his performance with the crowned prince of Indian politics, have a look:
Special Mentions in current session - Rijiji 9 and Rahul 1
Questions - Rijiju 184 and Rahul 3
Private Member’s Bills - Rijiju 6 and Rahul none
Participation in debates - Rijiju 72 debates and Rahul 2

And the similarity between Kiren Rijiju, Shah Nawaz Hussain, Dr. Sudha Yadav, Dharmendra Pradhan etc is that they are all young and all come from an ordinary family. None of these people had a dynasty to back them. So next time before you think that only the dynastic Babalog brigade can bring a change, think hard and twice. And do spare a thought for these young leaders who have not got their slice of fame.

And they claim to be secular

Congress last week welcome Tauqeer Khan to their fold. Welcoming him was none other than Digvijay Singh who does not tire of showing off his secular credentials. Maybe what he forgot or did not know or did not care was that Tauqeer Khan was the cleric who offered a reward to the person who beheads the cartoonist behind the Danish cartoons. And Congress his entry into Congress strengthens secularism.
Left in Kerala is fighting it's own CM. The reason is Madani, someone who is called the face of terror in South India. He has spent years in jail and has been involved in Coimbatore blasts and now is under scanner for Keralaite youth found fighting in Kashmir and Bangalore blasts. He is courted by both, Congress and the Left because they need his votes and for that they can forgive and forget his actions and speech.
Sharad Pawar yesterday in Mumbai made a speech again to the effect that Hindu terrorism s responsible for most of the blasts in the country. And in same speech, he was teaching secularism to Varun.
What's surprising is that media which lynches anyone talking about Hindu pride is silent on all these points. And it is this attitude of media and politicians which will generate if not a Hindutva wave but surely a Hindutva undercurrent.

11 Million Jobs

Congress promises 11 million jobs if it comes to power. 10 Million jobs that it could not provide inspite of promising last time and 1 million for those who lost their jobs in recent times due to economy mismanagement.

Move elections to SA too

EC has come with an interesting observation that there is a lack of security forces for this elections. EC claims there are 15,000 security personnel less in this election than 2004 election. Shocking, isn't it? This means either too many security personnel have resigned in last 5 years or more personnel are used elsewhere. If it means former, it shows sheer disregard of security personnel by the current government and security personnel's frustration with the government. And if it latter, then it just means that India is far more dangerous place than 2004. And government obviously has to take blame for both the situations.

Infact they can talk to Lalit Modi and see if he can get a package deal for hosting both IPL and elections on the safer shores of South Africa.

Politics of hate and crime

Hate and crime seem to have been one of the features of Indian politics since decades now. But this time, Varun Gandhi incident has brought it out in the open. Let's have a look at the tainted sheet in this election. The communalists and the criminals.

Communists and Congress in Kerala are both lining up at the same place. And the place belongs to Madani, the known communalist and one booked for number of terror cases. In fact just recently he and his wife have been under scanner for the 4 terrorists found in Kashmir and originally from Kerala. But when it's election time, secularism is better kept for TV studios and all so called secular parties are courting Madani to swing Muslim votes in their favour. While a young Varun get's clobbered all around, the senior Communist and Congress leaders praising Madani and hailing him are allowed to go scotfree.
What's the difference between Varun Gandhi and Jagdish Tytler / Sajjan Kumar? Just one. While Varun said the hate words, the other 2 went one step further and did so in action. They burnt and massacred Sikhs in calculated cold blooded manner.
The Church in Kerala too seems to be eager to stir this pot of hatred. So throwing their preaching of 'tolerance' to the winds, they have jumped in the fray, spreading hatred against both BJP and Communists and courting Congress. And they say one of the tenets of Secularism is that religion and politics have to be kept seperate.
Sanjay Dutt, Mukhtar Ansari, Ateeq Ahmed, Mohd Shahabuddin, Taslimuddin, Pappu Yadav... long list of those convicted of serious crimes and still in the fray or looking to get their spouses elected. Infact Taslimuddin, charged of serious cases like rape, murder, kidnapping was just inches away from being sworn in the last UPA government as a minister.
What about those who have spread venom on issues of caste and language? If one talks about caste venom, one has to see Mayawati, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Laloo Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan, Sachin Pilot who have used caste hatred and violence to reach the top echelons. What about the Thackerays, the Karunanidhis who are so jingoistic on their langauge that for them the country starts and ends with their states.
Then we have people like Omar Abdullah who unfortunately are applauded for the most divisive speech in Parliament. If Raj Thackeray says Maharashtra is their land and they won't let anyone step on it, it is called hate speech. But when Omar Abdullah says land for Amarnath is their land and they will fight for it with blood, it suddenly becomes a speech to be appluaded. Just becase it came from a Muslim leader? Or just because it suits for Indian politics to be anti-majority?

If EC wants to make the Indian politics hate and crime free, it has to act strongly and in an unbiased manner against all those accused of these acts. The EC can ill-afford a partisan approach because bias always leads to polarisation.

BJP and Women Power

Last couple of months one has seen the media and activists focus on the 'supposed' treatment of women in BJP ruled states specially Karnataka. While the attacks on the women are condemnable, the brush used to paint BJP as anti-women or anti-freedom is equally condemnable. To see the reason, one has to just see examples of 2 schemes run in BJP ruled states - Gujarat and MP. Maybe because this scheme aimed at the vast majority of those women who have got no voice in media, on internet or in streets. Or maybe because the women organisations don't think these women are a part of India.

Ladli Laxmi Yojana in MP is one of it's kind in the country. This scheme not only prevents female foeticide but it also ensures that the girl child does have some financial independence as she grows. As per the scheme, for evey girl child born, the government invests in saving certificates for 1st five year. Then as the child grows and studies, she gets an amount regularly. When she reaches the 12th standard, the girl child gets more than a lakh. The scheme has reduced the rate of school and college dropout amongst girls.

Another similar scheme has been the Beti Bachao Andolan in Gujarat. For long, Gujarat had one of the worst male to female ratio in the country. Under this, the state government not only took strict steps to prevent female foeticide, it also ensured that the girl child born in the family is treated as a relief rather than a burden. And the statistics say it all, the gender ratio has seen a healthy change. Plus Unicef has applauded this scheme.

And it is really heatening to hear that the same schemes would be brought to the centre if NDA comes to power.

Congress' revenge on Gandhiji

Gandhiji used to believe and say that Congress post-independence should be disbanded. And the current government has seen to it that they have their revenge. And it was so simple.

Their government (as they claim) was instrumental in Gandhiji's belongings being bought over by Liquor Baron Vijay Mallya.

The Taliban challenge

So many times we have read 'what goes around does come around'. The latest in this is the deadly possiblity of Taliban at India's doorstep. In more ways than one, India indirectly was the birthplace for the ideology which later turned into Taliban. In 1800s, after losing their power and grip over India, one saw the rise of Deoband. Started in UP on a very strong anti-British pitch, Deobandis fought pitched battles against British forces specially in 1857 War of Independence. Though many historians have tried to potray them as nationalists, the fact remained that they were fighting more for their religion and the religious power they enjoyed over vast areas of then undivided Hindustan. One has surely read how they fought or looked down upon the Hindus and other Muslim fighters during 1857 war. Post the loss, one did not hear much about them except the activities in Islamci Education or rise and spread of Wahabism. One of the seminaries of Deoband went far and wide spreading the so-called stringent form of Islam and that was termed Wahabsm.

Taliban right from it's early days draws strength and inspiration from this form of Islam. So in an indirect way India could be said to be the birthplace of Taliban. Now that challenge is right at our doorstep.

UPA government like always would like to be blind to this threat. But what one cannot close its eyes to is the fact that there is a sort of active revivalism of Wahabism in India. This is the dangerous territory. Remember how riots broke out in India over things like Afghan war or hanging of Saddam? Remember how desecration of Buddha in Bamiyan was treated with silence in Indian Islamic world and with glee in the radical circles? India has rarely seen bigger rallies than anti-Bush and anti-Danish Cartoon rallies. Malegaon, Bangalore, Meerut, Aligarh all burnt on issues which did not concern India.

These things will show how Taliban is not just at our doorstep but has entered our country in some way. Fighting individuals and armies is still possible but idealogies spread faster than people. And it was take an ideological battle to fight Taliban from destroying India.

And this ideological battle cannot be fought by indulging to vote-bank politics. Neither it can fought by victomisation. It can be fought only on the ideals of 'Justice for All, Appeasement for None'

Suraksha, Samman aur Khushalli

The above 3 words to be used as the UPA slogan sounds so hollow when you see what all has transpired in last 5 years. Let's talk of it one word as a time

Suraksha - The intellectual level of whoever in UPA thought that their government and Suraksha (safety) has anything in common, is highly suspect. They surely need better writers. Even a kid if asked what's was the common thing in last 5 years would say bomb blasts and terrorism. The country saw 27 blasts in last 5 years and the Mumbai attack to top it all. Only in the last year was there some change made or an attempt to whitewash made. Their security policy has been a national and then an internaitonal joke. Look at how Assam has gone on boil so many times. North East states which were all coming to normalcy after talks with Vajpayee regime as back to the turbulent days. Not a single part of the country was left untouched by terrorism. Even in J & K, the government pandered to and pampered the seperatists while nationalists were fired upon. Afzal Guru has been saved the gallows only because of the vote bank politics. The UPA government has not been a total failure when it comes to protecting people but it has also not been able to punish the culprits. Suraksha has been made the unloved mistress of votebank politics.

Samman -Hmm, respect. Now just visualise how many times have you seen Manmohan Singh relegated to position 3 in terms of respect within the Congress party (after Sonia and Rahul) and you would why one laughs at the mention of that word in the slogan. The government or the party which does not respect even it's own selected PM talks about respect for others. A PM who is used like a nighwatchman can hardly talk about respect. How many times in 5 years has the PM been made to pamper opportunist likes of Amar Singh, Karunanidhi, Sharad Pawar and criminal likes of Laloo Prasad Yadav, Shibu Soren. What respect are they talking about? Even the democratic institutions have been denied the respect they deserve. Everyone, right from CBI, EC to the media has been treated like a prostitute by the UPA government. The only ones who enjoyed some respect possibly have been the Gandhis.

Khushali - Such an irony that even after ruling the country for nealy 50 years, Congress still needs to promise happiness to the people. Even thought of asking them what they did for all these years? I would recommend the slogan writer to talk about khushali to the widows of the farmers who have committed suicide in Maharashtra, AP or to the people who have had their life-long savings wiped off in stock exchanges or to the middle class working youth who have been paying the highest EMIs for last 5 years. Talk about it to the people who have lost their employment. Further more, talk about khushali to the aam aadmi for whom survival has become a challenge.

So next time you hear Suraksha, Samman aur Khushali, think of Shivraj Patil changing clothes after blasts, PM working part-time till the Yuvraaj is ready to be PM and the widows of the farmers who committed suicide.

The secular curse

Wonder why there is silence when a statement like this should have called for all round condemnation? Sharad Pawar yesterday blamed the Hindutva forces for terrorism in India. And he is supposed to be the secular one with the halo around his head. So now, Hindus know that they are the reason why Punjab saw terrorism. Hindus are the reason why Kashmir has been burning for decades. Hindus are the reason why there have been blasts and terror attacks in the country. Applause for Pawar, the champion of secularism and the protector of India. He surely will get the kudos of the media and his secular brethren mainly his own favourite Dawood.

Had he said the same for any other community, they would ahve bayed for his blood or even skinned him politicially. But then Hindus as always will be tolerant and not only forgive him but also vote for him and his kinds.

Why Congress deserves the credit for Slumdog Millionaire

Before anything else, heartiest congratulations to the entire team involved with Slumdog Millionaire for it's Oscar success.

Congress Spokesman for once said the right thing. The entire success of Slumdog Millionaire has to be credited to Congress. Come on, let's face it. Congress has ruled India (and not governed) for most of the years after Independence. And if we still see slums, poverty, depair around, it obviously Congress' 'conducive' growth policies. And not to forget 'inclusive' politics. They have ensured that poverty and slums grow and include people from each community and region. The only people they never included in this 'conducive' growth has been their leaders and their kins. So much for fair play!

The choice to be made now is - Another Oscar Congress style or real growth and development?

Youth Leadership - EMIs and Pink Slips

With more and more voters in ths 18-25 range, India is looking at a new dimension and that is 'young leadership'. But what is dished out as youth leadership is a worrisome trend. Let's look at some young leaders - Rahul Gandhi, Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Umar Abdullah, Priya Dutt, Milind Deora, Manvendra Singh, Dushyant Singh, Anurag Thakur, Dayanidhi Maran, Uddhav Thackeray, Supriya Sule, Ajit Pawar, Bharat Solanki and many more. One thing which strikes the mind immediately is that all these young leaders irrespecive of their parties are sons, daughters or kins of the politicians who have ruled the roost over the years. Now that begs a few questions

If they were not born as what they are, would they have reached there?
What if instead of being new vision, they are just the proverbial 'chip off the old block'?
Are they just ornamental or can they really bring in the change?
How many of them have so far demonstrated, in work and not in speeches, that they can make a difference?

That's where the shiver sets in and the questions asked are
Do I need a young leader who has never paid an EMI?
Do I need a young leader who has so far demonstrated no signs of freshness except that of the face?
Would these young leaders really understand how painful being unemployed is?
Can those who have got things on platter understand the struggles a common man has to go through?
Will we now never find a statesman like Atal Bihari Vajpayee rise from ranks of a common man?
Should those living as common public forget that they too have a say in policy making or hope to be a leader and just hand it over to dynasties to rule them?

And the biggest questions

Is our democracy moving back to monarchy?
And the answer is - To prevent this, one has to support whoever has the vision for a Better India, is accountable, clean and can deliver, irrespective of the age.

Why L K Advani is the most misunderstood politician in India?

The headline might raise the eyebrows of many who think that the man is the primary reason for the ‘communal divide’ in the country. While the media has been prompt to endorse the likes of Laloo, the railway minister over Laloo, the corrupt politician, they have been more unfair in their potrayal of Advani as the single faceted leader.

Though the media loves to hate the man, the media forgets that it was L K Advani who as the Information and Broadcasting Minister in Morarji Desai government had opened the media for an impartial working. He removed the draconian laws which clamped on media. The central censorship also was thrown in the dustbin during his ministerial regime. He was the man behind Prasar Bharati, which aimed at removing DD and AIR from the clutches of government and reduce government interference in media. Alas, media never hailed the man who in more ways than one is the reason why media started enjoying freedom.

Many call Rath Yatra as the start of division in the society. But a look into the history and one sees Bhivandi, Meerut, Baroda, Bhagalpur, Kanpur, Malegaon, Ahmedabad (the religious Jagannath yatra was always under attack in certain areas), post Hazratbal riots and many more riots across the country since 1947. And these were much before the Rath Yatra. The Rath Yatra if not anything else was a symbol of identity for the people who till then had seen minority appeasement or reservational appeasment as the common occurance. For the first time, the silent mass found a reason to assert its identity. So if few feel it was a divisive move, for many others it was an assertion of identity. So in more ways than one, it did open the secular v/s pseudo-secular debate in the country. And also it changed the uni-polar politics of India and people were given a credible alternative to Congress

Somnath Chaterjee, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Advani … what is common between all of them? They all have had a long innings in public life but haven’t been smeared with stigma of corruption. He was named once in 1996 in the fake Hawala case which then Congress government had foisted on most of the opposition leaders. Only L K Advani had the courage and personal integrity to quit electoral pursuits till his name was cleared. And mind you in 1996, he could have been the 13 day PM since he was the face of BJP. But it takes nothing less than sheer clean conscience to put principles before ambitions.

Many try to hide the ineffectiveness of current regime Home Ministers by saying that terror attacks happened during L K Advani’s ministerial stint too. But what they forget was that the action or reaction by the Indian government in all the cases was fast and decisive. I remember Diptosh Majumdar from CNN IBN comment on a chat after 26/11 that had L K Advani been the HM, he would have alteast tried things different and quickly and cut the time lag of decision making. Remember Akshardham and the promp action? Or even the trials after Parliament attack. No home minister can completely remove terror in this age but the least one can do is to inspire confidence that there will be steps and strong ones.

Self made man that he is, the last thing one can associate with him is that he can be remote controlled by different powers. That’s the strength both Atalji and Advaniji have. Their years of experience in public life have given them a stature that they will not bow down to extra-constitutional authorities and undermine the respect – individual or national.

There are many such points where L K Advani scores heavily, where his aachar (actions), vichaar (thoughts) and prachar (his voice) has kept country above others. But misunderstood man that he is, media and intelligentsia has painted him with only one brush and ignored the vast positives of his. Sit back and do some reading and thinking on him and maybe even the critics and cynics will see the positives.

To sum it up, I will borrow some words from Mr. Sudheendra Kulkarni’s blog and say – It’s time to defocus on the ‘Vansh Bhogi’ (ones who live on the dynasty) and hail the ‘Karma Yogi’ (those who work on for country endlessly)

The liberal challenge

A couple of days back I got an email from a friend of mine which spoke about how it is necessary to weed out intolerance and religious fanaticism and saffron ideology from India. I could not help but laugh because the same friend 2 years ago was sending emails on why Da Vinci Code, both movie and the book should be banned in India. And she was happy when the movie was banned in few states. That’s where ‘liberals’ can not win the war against intolerance because of their own biases and intolerance.

Many such examples one can see. While Shiv Sena’s call for banning the book Rama’s Riddles is considered fanaticism, Dalit outcry and violence on Arun Shourie’s book ‘Demystifying False Gods’ does not evict the least of attention in media or liberal circles. Luckily both the books (brilliant books) have not seen the fate which Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses had to see or the writers had to undergo what Taslima Nasreen had to both in her country and in ‘secular’ India.

M F Hussein is painted as the victim of fundamentalism when he is under fire from Hindu right wing but then there is total silence when his movie Meenaxi is brought down from theatres on day 2 of release under pressure from the Muslim groups. And Hussein too was made to apologise for the same. Double standards or poetic justice?

Till the time the liberals don’t close out these cracks in their outcry, the likes of Muttalik, Raj Thackeray, John Dayal, Madani, Imam Bukhari will continue to prosper.

It’s time to leave our own biases aside and throw our own intolerances out. How many of us have not uttered the words ‘this should be banned’ or ‘that should be banned’? Because till the time we don’t do that, the only difference between us and the fanatics would be that they use violence and we can’t go down to those levels.