Today, the grand old man, Mr. L.K. Advani had a few valuable suggestions on the way our political system could be organised. His pearls of wisdom included compulsory voting, elections only once in 5 years and that too in February when the weather is salubrious, with a view on improving turnouts. Even though I do not support Mr. Advani in his desperate urge to become the Prime Minister, I agree with him totally on these ideas.
A few days back, Dr. Manmohan Singh also gave some invaluable suggestions - like limiting the role of regional parties and independents in the electoral process.
I agree with both of them completely. These are the only words of sanity coming in the cacophony of the ongoing electoral process.
I would be a little radical on this.
We are increasingly going to play an important role in the world theatre. The Doomsday Scenario is playing out. Whether we like it or not, India is reluctantly going to be drawn into a conflict with both Islamic fundamentalists across the western borders and in Afghanistan. We cannot rule out a high intensity conflict with the Chinese.
The scenario will play out in the next 20-odd years. In this evolving war theatre, the nation is going to be stretched for able political minds to strategize for the future - to not only ensure our survival but success as a nation.
To ensure effective and sane governance, we would need a legislation that defines on who gets to occupy key berths in the Union Cabinet. For instance, the defence ministry should go to a distinguished ex-serviceman, external affairs to an ex-diplomat, finance ministry to an economist, etc. We have in the past picked up people who have no damn clue what they are supposed to do in these mission-critical ministries.
Visualise a scenario where the Behenji or the likes of Deve Gowda become the Prime Minister. These people have no world view and have a myopic a vision of where as a nation would stand. Their parochial politics would make them Prime Ministers of Uttar Pradesh or Karnataka, as the case may be.
Such a legislation would ensure continuity of rational policy, which would give India the much required decoupling from political instability and parochialism.
Is it possible?
Yes, it is indeed.
The institutions like the Reserve Bank of India gives us a glimmer of hope that independent minded institutions can thrive for the good of the nation.
But the big question is whether the Congress and the BJP would get together to make it happen.
Today morning, just as Bombay goes to vote on issues that confront us in this megapolis, I received this mail from a friend that made me feel petty.
Are the issues on quality of life we face larger than the nation? We think we are in the line of fire - recession, inflation, poor urban infrastructure. Perhaps we are actually not in the line of fire.
There are thousands of soldiers who, today are guarding our frontiers selflessly, without any recognition, without any honour, simply to guard the Indian way of life - so that we can live, live safely, prosper. And what do we and elected representatives do? We crib about issues, and our politicians make merry at our cost and at the cost of these brave men.
I am so moved by the mail that I am reproducing it here in its entirety - for the first time I am putting in third-party content . Read on, think for yourself who's in the Line of Fire...
A real story ...A gossip between a Soldier and Software Engineer in Shatabdhi Train .........An interesting and a must read!
VivekPradhan was not a happy man. Even the plush comfort of the air-conditioned compartment of the Shatabdhi express could not cool his frayed nerves. He was the Project Manager and still not entitled to air travel. It was not the prestige he sought; he had tried to reason with the admin person, it was the savings in time. As PM, he had so many things to do!! He opened his case and took out the laptop, determined to put the time to some good use.
'Are you from the software industry sir,' the man beside him was staring appreciatively at the laptop. Vivek glanced briefly and mumbled in affirmation, handling the laptop now with exaggerated care and importance as if it were an expensive car.
'You people have brought so much advancement to the country, Sir. Today everything is getting computerized.
''Thanks,' smiled Vivek, turning around to give the man a look. He always found it difficult to resist appreciation. The man was young and stockpile built like a sportsman. He looked simple and strangely out of place in that little lap of luxury like a small town boy in a prep school. He probably was a railway sportsman making the most of his free traveling pass. 'You people always amaze me,' the man continued, 'you sit in an office and write something on a computer and it does so many big things outside.'
Vivek smiled deprecatingly. Naiveness demanded reasoning not anger. 'It is not as simple as that my friend. It is not just a question of writing a few lines. There is a lot of process that goes behind it.' For a moment, he was tempted to explain the entire Software Development Lifecycle but restrained himself to a single statement. 'It is complex, very complex.' 'It has to be. No wonder you people are so highly paid,' came the reply.
This was not turning out as Vivek had thought. A hint of belligerence crept into his so far affable, persuasive tone. ' Everyone just sees the money. No one sees the amount of hard work we have to put in. Indians have such a narrow concept of hard work. Just because we sit in an air-conditioned office, does not mean our brows do not sweat. You exercise the muscle; we exercise the mind and believe me that is no less taxing.' He could see, he had the man where he wanted, and it was time to drive home the point. 'Let me give you an example. Take this train. The entire railway reservation system is computerized. You can book a train ticket between any two stations from any of the hundreds of computerized booking centres across the country. Thousands of transactions accessing a single database, at a time concurrently; data integrity, locking, data security. Do you understand the complexity in designing and coding such a system?'
The man was awestruck; quite like a child at a planetarium. This was something big and beyond his imagination. 'You design and code such things.'
'I used to,' Vivek paused for effect, 'but now I am the Project Manager.''Oh!' sighed the man, as if the storm had passed over, 'so your life is easy now.'
This was like the last straw for Vivek. He retorted, 'Oh come on, does life ever get easy as you go up the ladder. Responsibility only brings more work. Design and coding! That is the easier part. Now I do not do it, but I am responsible for it and believe me, that is far more stressful. My job is to get the work done in time and with the highest quality. To tell you about the pressures, there is the customer at one end, always changing his requirements, the user at the other, wanting something else, and your boss, always expecting you to have finished it yesterday.'
Vivek paused in his diatribe, his belligerence fading with self-realization. What he had said, was not merely the outburst of a wronged man, it was the truth. And one need not get angry while defending the truth. 'My friend,' he concluded triumphantly, ‘you don’t know what it is to be in the Line of Fire’.
The man sat back in his chair, his eyes closed as if in realization. When he spoke after sometime, it was with a calm certainty that surprised Vivek. 'I know sir.... I know what it is to be in the Line of Fire.......' He was staring blankly, as if no passenger, no train existed, just a vast expanse of time. 'There were 30 of us when we were ordered to capture Point 4875 in the cover of the night. The enemy was firing from the top. There was no knowing where the next bullet was going to come from and for whom. In the morning when we finally hoisted the tricolor at the top only 4 of us were alive.'
‘you are a...?'
'I am SubedarSushant from the 13 J&K Rifles on duty at Peak 4875 in Kargil. They tell me I have completed my term and can opt for a soft assignment. But, tell me sir, can one give up duty just because it makes life easier. On the dawn of that capture, one of my colleagues lay injured in the snow, open to enemy fire while we were hiding behind a bunker. It was my job to go and fetch that soldier to safety. But my captain sahib refused me permission and went ahead himself.
He said that the first pledge he had taken as a Gentleman Cadet was to put the safety and welfare of the nation foremost followed by the safety and welfare of the men he commanded... ....his own personal safety came last, always and every time.' 'He was killed as he shielded and brought that injured soldier into the bunker. Every morning thereafter, as we stood guard, I could see him taking all those bullets, which were actually meant for me. I know sir....I know, what it is to be in the Line of Fire.'
Vivek looked at him in disbelief not sure of how to respond. Abruptly, he switched off the laptop. It seemed trivial, even insulting to edit a Word document in the presence of a man for whom valor and duty was a daily part of life; valour and sense of duty which he had so far attributed only to epical heroes. The train slowed down as it pulled into the station, and SubedarSushant picked up his bags to alight. 'It was nice meeting you sir.'
Vivek fumbled with the handshake. This hand... had climbed mountains, pressed the trigger, and hoisted the tricolour. Suddenly, as if by impulse, he stood up at attention and his right hand went up in an impromptu salute. It was the least he felt he could do for the country.
PS: The incident he narrated during the capture of Peak 4875 is a true-life incident during the Kargil war. Capt. Batra sacrificed his life while trying to save one of the men he commanded, as victory was within sight. For this and various other acts of bravery, he was awarded the ParamVirChakra, the nation's highest military award. Live humbly, there are great people around us, let us learn!
She walked into my life, With a face that beamed with a radiance brighter than that of the sun. With a warmth, that made my heart glow as bright as the sun. She touched my heart like no one had. Her voice soothed my innerself.
Together we moved a little while.... With that extra spring in every step. It all seemed so bright and sunny. The day would never end, it seemed. 'Till eternity, we'll walk together, hand in hand!' My face lit up at this thought.
A moment later, Vanished she was without a trace. My lonesome heart trembled. A tear-drop from my eye Fell to the parched earth below.
I walked on..... For life had to be lived. Little did I know.... Where my tear fell, There grew a shrub of red roses. Red Roses of the Love that Never Was.
These days, with the way the heat is in Bombay, my sleep is quite disturbed. But just as dawn approaches, I doze off into a deep slumber, hoping to catch a few winks before the grind. And then - 5.30 AM, my mobile phone buzzes feverishly, waking me up, in an irritating mood - guess what? It's Raj Thackeray's MNS messaging me, imploring me to vote for them. It is amazing - I am not a manoosand still they feel I have something valuable for them - my god-damn vote! Till the elections are on, I guess, I don't need my alarm - I can certainly count on Raj to wake me up.
Now I feel these guys have got afflicted by some kind of amnesia - the selective type of amnesia. Weren't they the same guys who wanted us, the non-manoos people out of the city, a few months back?
Talking of amnesia, there is another kind of amnesia which has afflicted the politicians - Laloo, the joker of the pack gave amnesia a creative twist when he said that it was the Congress which actually demolished the Babri. He may be right - the cameras must have caught Congress partymen in fancy-dress - the saffron ones, they are the masters of deception after all, right?
Coming to the grand old man in a hurry, Mr. Advani, who till November 2008, vehemently opposed the nuclear deal with the United States, suddenly said that if voted to power, he would abide by the sovereign commitment Dr. Manmohan had made. Mr. Advani, didn't you want the deal all along? It is indeed surprising that you opposed it in the first place. That Mr. Advani, is what I call taking the politics of convenience to a new level.
And Mr. Munnabhai suddenly proclaims his love for the Behenji - a love replete with offers of jhappis and pappis. Is Manyata divorcing SanjayDutt that he had no option but to tell the world about his lovey-dovey feelings for the Behenji? I wonder what Amar Singh and Mulayam Singh would have thought of that, given that she is their sworn-enemy of sorts.
Who can forget Mr. Karunanidhi, when he says on air that the LTTE is not a terrorist organisation. With a clean "non-terrorist" certificate from Karunanidhi, shouldn't we welcome Prabhakaran into India? Going by that logic, Pakistan is doing just the right thing.
Amidst all this cacophony, we have the Behenji, who finds that she's going unnoticed, suddenly says she deserves to be the next Prime Minister, given her background, etc. etc. Perhaps she has concluded some horsetrading deals already, that could take her home.
And shoes continue to be in fashion. A village in UttarPradesh had a shoe hitting practice organised recently so that they don't miss their targets the next time around. Does any one need old shoes? Please contact me, I am thinking of discarding some old shoes very soon and surely before the polls are over. I would love to donate my shoes for this noble and worthy cause!
The TRPs of the Indian Premier League are not as great - this is being attributed to this Tamasha. But they have a lot to worry - their TRPs could fall further, as the we have a couple of more weeks of this Tamasha left and it will get better by the day, as results get announced and horse-trading begins!
Though I haven't done many of these goof-ups in the past, they do happen. And while they do have a very high potential to cause a major embarrassment, they can also be quite interesting, leading to some comical solutions.
A similar situation occurred yesterday. Neeti and I were scheduled to attend a party in the evening. Being an exceptionally warm and humid day, we had to take a couple of showers through the day to stay cool!
And so, before we left home, we took our showers, decked ourselves up nattily, thought we were smelling good, looking smart, etc. etc.!
True to the conditions set forth for me, I had to drive. Moved out of home, and got on the New Link Road - surprisingly, there was little traffic for a Sunday evening. And in o time we reached the JP Road crossing - the signal was red and we stopped. And then came the shocker - I looked at myself in the rear view mirror and realised what a fool I was! I forgot to SHAVE!!!!!! I felt like such a fool!
Knowing what was around the corner, I very carefully modulated my voice, tried not looking into Neeti's eyes and said "Neeti, I forgot to shave!"
The reaction was cool and measured - perhaps she had given up on me, trying to persuade to shave on the weekends. The argument I used to counter her in such situations was that AbhishekBachchan doesn't seem to shave, does Aishwarya seem to complain? No! So you could very well accept. After all, you are a big fan of his!
Grudgingly, Neeti said "Forget it, let's continue anyways!"
Afraid to embarrass her, I said I would shave anyway. She suggested we turn back. Now that would have meant getting an hour late, which was not ideal.
Eureka, a brilliant idea struck me like a bolt through the blue. I told Neeti, that would love me for the rest of my life for this damn thing that I was going to do.
Accelerated towards DNNagar and pulled over by the grocery stores, opposite the DNNagar police station. And then I made a dash towards the closest grocery store - picked up a Gillette Presto and a small bottle of Aquafina.
Rushed back to the car, moistened my face with, yes, Aquafina, and quickly wrapped up the act, in the dimming light. And you can't imagine the glances I got from passers-by - kids were giggling, boys laughing, girls looking at me with disdain and Aunties looking at me suspiciously as if were going for a clandestine rendezvous with girl beside me in the car!!!! Arrrgh!
Don't Tell My Mother I’m In… shows what goes on in a war zone. The host Diego Buñuel goes on a behind-the-scenes journey through these countries with dubious reputations, including Pakistan, Iran and former Yugoslavia.
Iran was one of his fascinating journeys. Contrary to the notions most people have about Iran as being a backward looking fundamentalist state, Diego's show projected Iran as a progressive state. Unlike most Islamic states, women do seem to be empowered - where else in the Muslim world would you find women drivers?
How different is Iran from the rest of the Muslim world? If one were to draw a line across Asia, one would find only a handful of true democracies - Israel, Iran, India and Japan. The rest of them are regimes which are totalitarian, autocratic, propped up by the military or are benign dictatorships.
This is sharp contrast to the rest of the Muslim world - Pakistan or say, Saudi Arabia.
My measure of how liberal an Islamic state is, would be judged from the way the state treats its Jews. Jews in Iran, do seem to treated fairly well. Besides Diego's show, this was confirmed by Roger Cohen's column in The New York Times titled What Iran’s Jews Say.
Iranian Jews have representation in the Iranian parliament and freedom to follow their faith - Tehran has over 11 synagogues.
Wikipedia mentions Iranian Jews have their own newspaper (called "Ofogh-e-Bina"), Jewish scholars performing Judaic research at Tehran's "Central Library of Jewish Association". The "Dr. Sapir Jewish Hospital" is Iran's largest charity hospital of any religious minority community in the country.
Has Iran sponsored Islamic terror? No. Has Iran ever exported virulent Islam? No. Iran is very different from the rest of the Muslim world.
The relative liberalism of Iran is perhaps what is prompting the United States to extend them an olive branch.
In context of the present geopolitical situation in the region, the United States can have only three reliable partners in the region - Israel, India and Iran. It is perhaps the only functioning democracy in the Islamic world. A strategic partnership with Iran not only helps in moderating the virulent Islamic forces but also paves the way for energy security of the world.
India can play an important role in getting Iran and the United States to talk. India has an advantage of both geographical proximity as well as close bilateral relations with Iran. We can use this leverage to our benefit. Let's remember, getting the United States and Iran together makes the neighbourhood more secure for us - the United States can then focus solely on eliminating radical elements in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Getting Iran to the mainstream is the key to peace in our region.
What a shocker this is - the Samajwadi Party (SP) has announced in it poll manifesto that it wants to ban computers, English, mechanised farming and stock trading among other things. This has been covered prominently on news channels like NDTV as well as in the print media.
How ridiculous, horrifying and pathetic!
Does the SP do what it preaches? There are a lot of inherent contradictions in what these people are saying.
A few pointers:
The SP has a jazzy website, in English, yes that's right - they are using computers and the net, that too in English.
Mulayam's supporter, Big B, a net freak who passionately blogs every day, would perhaps have to revert to his father's passion - Hindi poetry. Arreybaba, no English, vinglish!
Aishwarya, another SP supporter, would have to stop all movies in English, stop her jaunts to Cannes and above all no western clothes - that's a logical consequence of SP's policies, right?
AnilAmbani, another Mulayam supporter, runs a clutch of companies that invest in the markets. If the SP comes to power, would all these companies go bankrupt?
The son of a prominent SP candidate from Mumbai would have to shut down his upmarket eatery in Bandra, because it serves Italian khaanapeena, corrupting Indian minds. And his wife, a Bollywood starlet, would have to stop wearing western dresses, and no make-up, shake-up!
Last but the least, the ever grinning Amar Singh, would have to stop all his Page 3 party hopping - that's simply not Indian culture.
If the SP is serious about what it says, shouldn't their prominent supporters do all that I have suggested above?
It is indeed stupid, if I may so, for a national party to say all this. Computers and the net are now being used by farmers to find out new techniques of cultivation. Mobiles come in handy for them to get the best price in the markets. Even rickshaw wallahs and household maids use cellphones to optimise their operations! Every small town has computer and English institutes to coach youngsters, helping them get jobs in BPOs, etc.
And now the SP wants to take us back to the middle ages. Or is it mere vote-bank politics, where politicians are mere demagogues inciting people to get to power? Perhaps they have a vested interest in keeping people backward so that continue to hold positions of prominence in society.
Sometimes I feel that India might do well with a benign dictatorship like the way Turkey had in the early part of the 20th century, when MustafaKemalAtatürk imposed a modernisation on the country - equality of women, separation of religion from the state, adoption of English script for the Turkish language, etc. That is something which is debatable.
For now, let's exile the SP leadership to North Korea, where they will feel at home with Kim IlJong.
I received an interesting text message this morning, which said something like this:
Some relations are like Raymond's, - since 1925. Some are like ICICI Bank - from 8 AM to 8 PM. But very few are like LIC - Zindagikesaathbhi, zindagikebaadbhi!!!!
I realised that this is so true. These are the relations we all truly cherish, yet we barely realise all this in our daily routine.
Sometimes, we think we hurt ourselves by assuming some relationships are the timeless ones, whereas they turn out to be short lived ones. Once the context changes, the relationship whithers away. And it could pain quite a lot because one would have selflessly invested ones' emotions in it, yet one feels used like a tissue paper.
But some relationships withstand and transcend context and time. These are the relationships that are truly "relationships". If I look at these relationships, I find very few of these, where unconditional selflessness is there on both sides, the emotional bonding remains strong, despite physical distances. Doesn't one feel the emotional strings of these relationships tugging on you all the time?
It is these relationships one is scared to lose. Isn't that why we don't like seeing our parents age?
But then, little do we realise that these relationships leave a certain glow like a guiding light and warmth that keeps our hearts beating till day we are here..... that is why these relationships are timeless, zindagikesaathbhi, zindagikebaadbhi!
Sometime back when Bush was hit by shoe during a press conference in Iraq, we thought it was a one off incident.
But this week, we had two shoe-throwing incidents at home, which shows that this is as viral a phenomena as globalisation.
So when Mr. Chidambaram had a shoe hurled at him, people couldn't wonder thinking which brand it was? A Reebok? An Addidas? Anti-globalisation activists must surely be happy - it was very own, home-grown, desi, Action shoe.
And the size, I wonder what that was. Bush was quick to observe that was a No. 10 shoe. But poor Chidambaram , unlike Bush, he barely showed any wit!!! Guess its because it has been ages since he's worn a shoe. He after all prefers chappals, with his lungis! He seems to be woefully out of touch with shoe sizes and brands.
Certainly, with elections just around the corner, there will be many shoe-hurling opportunities coming our way. Which means that this is boomtime for the shoe-making industry with a good domestic potential. And the export market is also huge - global hotspots like Iraq, Gaza, West Bank, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, etc. should be on the shoe-makers' radar screens for exports.
And with such a huge global market for low-cost shoe-makers in India, Mr. Chidambaram and his cabinet colleagues better announce an incentive package for shoe-makers and exporters. There will be many "anti" voices, many would petition the Election Commission that is violation of the election code of conduct.
But in this recession, which other industry has such a great potential?
That's why I say, shoes are back in fashion, as the new WMDs (I meant Weapons of Mass Defiance!!!). Thank Jarnail Singh for that!
About a month back, I had written about the scenario of the Taliban taking over Pakistan and the emergence of Talibanistan on our western borders - the blog was titled Talibanistan.
The scenario is getter truer by the day.
Today's edition of The Hindustan Times had this full page feature titled "Talibanistan" taking about the real possibility of the Taliban taking over the entire Pakistani territory.
The article presented a few scenarios, including the one on the right of this text.
A pretty scary scenario indeed.
Be assured, the United States would bleed more in Afghanistan in the next few years. The financial pain at home would force them to pull out.
And what could be worse is that we will find ourselves unwillingly in the eye of the storm, at the epicenter of the Third World War.
As we look into the crystal ball at the way the scenarios would pan out, our preparedness to cope is in question. How do we prepare ourselves to cope with all this?
Increased defence spending is a great idea, provided the increased budgets go into military hardware and also into building electronic and human intelligence networks. Our defence forces are undoubtedly skilled, but if we don't have the intelligence, we might fail miserably. Networking with other intelligence agencies would be critical for this. I believe this has already started. A pointer to this is the recent visit by the CIA chief, Leon Panetta, to India.
Military conscription has to be started immediately - we a need a readily available supply of trained personnel who can be called in at short notice to defend us against aggressors.
Civilian capability to withstand such a doomsday scenario has to be built. Ex-servicemen can be employed for this task. Such a preparedness would in handy ensuring the support systems don't collapse in the event of a surprise attack. We can learn from Israel about this.
I may be called a hawk for visualising a doomsday scenario, but we would be better off being prepared for it rather than get taken by surprise.
In a couple of weeks the Great Indian Tamasha will begin.... It's not a circus I am talking about. It's the dance of democracy - the general elections is what I am talking about.
A few days back we were at the center of the world stage at the G-20 summit in London. The whole world is today looking at us, alongwith China, in the hope that we, perhaps the only growing economies, would pull back the world from the brink of financial Armageddon. As a resurgent nation, we went about telling the world that we would (yes, it's true) contribute to IMF, rather than borrow from it. Who could have imagined this in 1991, when Dr. Manmohan Singh pledged India's gold reserves for valuable foreign exchange?
Tomorrow, the elections will be on us. The question we are faced with is whether the resurgent momentum would be sustained after the elections or not?
Who would be voted in, is the big question today. With limited choices, I am looking at selecting the party to vote for by elimination.
Among the choices we have are the behenji, the comrades, the so called "knicker-walas" and the topiwalaCongressmen.
We certainly cannot afford to have behenjiat the helm of affairs - the whole law and order system would then be turned in an organised system of collecting loot for her birthday.
The comrades would close all of India's frontiers, except one - the Northern one. The Chinese would in all probability annex India as they did with Tibet, with the comrades playing ball. We cannot let them be a part of the of the government.
The choice boils down to essentially two options - the BJP or the Congress.
While I agree with some of the issues that the BJP has long advocated, e.g., stronger foreign and security policy, modernisation of defence forces, evolving strategic partnerships with both Israel and the United States, abrogation of Article 370 and adoption of a Uniform Civil Code, I feel, today, after Mr. Vajpayee ceded control of the party to Mr. Advani, they have not only lost allies but more importantly, also lost focus.
BJP may not be a dynastic organisation but it doesn't have a credible leadership today. Mr. Advani seems like an old man in a hurry who appears to be too eager to become the Prime Minister at least once, before he is forced to retire from politics. He is projecting himself as a muscular candidate with lots of promises on security and likes of it all, but we musn't forget he could not prevent the release of militants in exchange for the release of militants at Kandahar, one of India's saddest moments in history after the 1962 debacle.
He is trying to project himself as India's Obama, reaching out to Indian netizens. But the important question that I ask is whether he has the means to bring the vision to reality. He certainly does not have a A-team to realise this vision.
Two, BJP's idealistic principles of the early 2000s seem have to given way to rag-tag policies, without a concrete vision that a budding superpower should have. I don't see any vision for the next 50-years emanating out of the BJP.
Today, their view is lopsided - take the nuclear deal for instance - an issue based support to the UPA would have finished off the Left and could have reduced support for the so called 3rd front, paving the way for a two-party system, which would have brought a lot of stability to the political system. BJP's stand on the nuclear deal left a lot to be desired, baffled many BJP insiders (Mr. BrijeshMishra being one such BJP member, who actually said that the deal was good for India and the BJP would have signed the deal had they been in power) and personally left me disappointed and saddened.
Let us admit it, gone are the days of Mr. Vajpayee. His immense goodwill has been squandered by Mr. Advani and his team, by their constant in-fighting and intra-party bickering. If things stay the way they are, the BJP may fade away into political oblivion, unless of course, Mr. NarendraModi is able to shift to the Centre.
I must further admit that I am no fan of the Congress either. Like many others, I somehow detest the thought of a pasta-eating foreigner leading India's oldest political party. With all the sycophancy, dynastic leadership style and rampant corruption within the Congress, there is a lot to be desired. No one can forget how the man-slaughter of Sikhs in 1984, had de-facto sanction of the Congress. And to top it all, when the perpetrators of the crime get an acquittal, the party's commitment to justice is questioned.
However, with Dr. Manmohan Singh at helm, the Congress has indeed shown some signs of a commitment to moving forward, consistently and decisively. The nuclear deal and reactions to 26/11 do show that Dr. Singh's A-team, comprising of Mr. Chidambaram and Mr. PranabMukherjee, does mean business.
A netizen once had argued with me saying that the Congress is lacking leaders. There is nobody to replace Mr. Chidambaram as Finance Minister, at a time when the world is facing the worst economic crisis in our living memories. He went on to say that our Prime Minister, who is fighting with his health, is playing multiple roles. He went to question how Sonia could lead the party.
My counter argument is that despite not having a full time Finance Minister, we have fared well on the economic front. And Dr. ManmohanSingh's A-team did hold the fort very well while he was away. Let's not forget, as opposed to the BJP, the Congress, today does have quite a few youth leaders who can step in if required.
It is obvious, that today, we as a nation are at cross-roads. The choices we make today will define how the India of tomorrow shapes the future of the world. The Congress, with Dr. Manmohan Singh seems to be our best bet.
At this point, I am reminded of Rahul Gandhi's powerful speech in the Parliament during the debate on the confidence vote on the nuclear issue on July 22, 2008, where he said that a powerful country thinks of how it can impact the world, whereas the not-so-powerful country of how the world would impact it.
Dr. ManmohanSingh's has in the last one year just done that - thinking of how India can impact the world, in imparting financial stability and achieving a secure neighbourhood. He sure does deserve another chance to make a difference to the world.
And we as players in the Great Indian Tamasha, i.e. as voters in the upcoming general elections, can help Dr. Manmohan Singh in that quest.
In a couple of weeks the Great Indian Tamasha will begin.... It's not a circus I am talking about. It's the dance of democracy - the general elections is what I am talking about.
A few days back we were at the center of the world stage at the G-20 summit in London. The whole world is today looking at us, alongwith China, in the hope that we, perhaps the only growing economies, would pull back the world from the brink of financial Armageddon. As a resurgent nation, we went about telling the world that we would (yes, it's true) contribute to IMF, rather than borrow from it. Who could have imagined this in 1991, when Dr. Manmohan Singh pledged India's gold reserves for valuable foreign exchange?
Tomorrow, the elections will be on us. The question we are faced with is whether the resurgent momentum would be sustained after the elections or not?
Who would be voted in, is the big question today. With limited choices, I am looking at selecting the party to vote for by elimination.
Among the choices we have are the behenji, the comrades, the so called "knicker-walas" and the topiwalaCongressmen.
We certainly cannot afford to have behenjiat the helm of affairs - the whole law and order system would then be turned in an organised system of collecting loot for her birthday.
The comrades would close all of India's frontiers, except one - the Northern one. The Chinese would in all probability annex India as they did with Tibet, with the comrades playing ball. We cannot let them be a part of the of the government.
The choice boils down to essentially two options - the BJP or the Congress.
While I agree with some of the issues that the BJP has long advocated, e.g., stronger foreign and security policy, modernisation of defence forces, evolving strategic partnerships with both Israel and the United States, abrogation of Article 370 and adoption of a Uniform Civil Code, I feel, today, after Mr. Vajpayee ceded control of the party to Mr. Advani, they have not only lost allies but more importantly, also lost focus.
BJP may not be a dynastic organisation but it doesn't have a credible leadership today. Mr. Advani seems like an old man in a hurry who appears to be too eager to become the Prime Minister at least once, before he is forced to retire from politics. He is projecting himself as a muscular candidate with lots of promises on security and likes of it all, but we musn't forget he could not prevent the release of militants in exchange for the release of militants at Kandahar, one of India's saddest moments in history after the 1962 debacle.
He is trying to project himself as India's Obama, reaching out to Indian netizens. But the important question that I ask is whether he has the means to bring the vision to reality. He certainly does not have a A-team to realise this vision.
Two, BJP's idealistic principles of the early 2000s seem have to given way to rag-tag policies, without a concrete vision that a budding superpower should have. I don't see any vision for the next 50-years emanating out of the BJP.
Today, their view is lopsided - take the nuclear deal for instance - an issue based support to the UPA would have finished off the Left and could have reduced support for the so called 3rd front, paving the way for a two-party system, which would have brought a lot of stability to the political system. BJP's stand on the nuclear deal left a lot to be desired, baffled many BJP insiders (Mr. BrijeshMishra being one such BJP member, who actually said that the deal was good for India and the BJP would have signed the deal had they been in power) and personally left me disappointed and saddened.
Let us admit it, gone are the days of Mr. Vajpayee. His immense goodwill has been squandered by Mr. Advani and his team, by their constant in-fighting and intra-party bickering. If things stay the way they are, the BJP may fade away into political oblivion, unless of course, Mr. NarendraModi is able to shift to the Centre.
I must further admit that I am no fan of the Congress either. Like many others, I somehow detest the thought of a pasta-eating foreigner leading India's oldest political party. With all the sycophancy, dynastic leadership style and rampant corruption within the Congress, there is a lot to be desired. No one can forget how the man-slaughter of Sikhs in 1984, had de-facto sanction of the Congress. And to top it all, when the perpetrators of the crime get an acquittal, the party's commitment to justice is questioned.
However, with Dr. Manmohan Singh at helm, the Congress has indeed shown some signs of a commitment to moving forward, consistently and decisively. The nuclear deal and reactions to 26/11 do show that Dr. Singh's A-team, comprising of Mr. Chidambaram and Mr. PranabMukherjee, does mean business.
A netizen once had argued with me saying that the Congress is lacking leaders. There is nobody to replace Mr. Chidambaram as Finance Minister, at a time when the world is facing the worst economic crisis in our living memories. He went on to say that our Prime Minister, who is fighting with his health, is playing multiple roles. He went to question how Sonia could lead the party.
My counter argument is that despite not having a full time Finance Minister, we have fared well on the economic front. And Dr. ManmohanSingh's A-team did hold the fort very well while he was away. Let's not forget, as opposed to the BJP, the Congress, today does have quite a few youth leaders who can step in if required.
It is obvious, that today, we as a nation are at cross-roads. The choices we make today will define how the India of tomorrow shapes the future of the world. The Congress, with Dr. Manmohan Singh seems to be our best bet.
At this point, I am reminded of Rahul Gandhi's powerful speech in the Parliament during the debate on the confidence vote on the nuclear issue on July 22, 2008, where he said that a powerful country thinks of how it can impact the world, whereas the not-so-powerful country of how the world would impact it.
Dr. ManmohanSingh's has in the last one year just done that - thinking of how India can impact the world, in imparting financial stability and achieving a secure neighbourhood. He sure does deserve another chance to make a difference to the world.
And we as players in the Great Indian Tamasha, i.e. as voters in the upcoming general elections, can help Dr. Manmohan Singh in that quest.
In a couple of weeks the Great Indian Tamasha will begin.... It's not a circus I am talking about. It's the dance of democracy - the general elections is what I am talking about.
A few days back we were at the center of the world stage at the G-20 summit in London. The whole world is today looking at us, alongwith China, in the hope that we, perhaps the only growing economies, would pull back the world from the brink of financial Armageddon. As a resurgent nation, we went about telling the world that we would (yes, it's true) contribute to IMF, rather than borrow from it. Who could have imagined this in 1991, when Dr. Manmohan Singh pledged India's gold reserves for valuable foreign exchange?
Tomorrow, the elections will be on us. The question we are faced with is whether the resurgent momentum would be sustained after the elections or not?
Who would be voted in, is the big question today. With limited choices, I am looking at selecting the party to vote for by elimination.
Among the choices we have are the behenji, the comrades, the so called "knicker-walas" and the topiwalaCongressmen.
We certainly cannot afford to have behenjiat the helm of affairs - the whole law and order system would then be turned in an organised system of collecting loot for her birthday.
The comrades would close all of India's frontiers, except one - the Northern one. The Chinese would in all probability annex India as they did with Tibet, with the comrades playing ball. We cannot let them be a part of the of the government.
The choice boils down to essentially two options - the BJP or the Congress.
While I agree with some of the issues that the BJP has long advocated, e.g., stronger foreign and security policy, modernisation of defence forces, evolving strategic partnerships with both Israel and the United States, abrogation of Article 370 and adoption of a Uniform Civil Code, I feel, today, after Mr. Vajpayee ceded control of the party to Mr. Advani, they have not only lost allies but more importantly, also lost focus.
BJP may not be a dynastic organisation but it doesn't have a credible leadership today. Mr. Advani seems like an old man in a hurry who appears to be too eager to become the Prime Minister at least once, before he is forced to retire from politics. He is projecting himself as a muscular candidate with lots of promises on security and likes of it all, but we musn't forget he could not prevent the release of militants in exchange for the release of militants at Kandahar, one of India's saddest moments in history after the 1962 debacle.
He is trying to project himself as India's Obama, reaching out to Indian netizens. But the important question that I ask is whether he has the means to bring the vision to reality. He certainly does not have a A-team to realise this vision.
Two, BJP's idealistic principles of the early 2000s seem have to given way to rag-tag policies, without a concrete vision that a budding superpower should have. I don't see any vision for the next 50-years emanating out of the BJP.
Today, their view is lopsided - take the nuclear deal for instance - an issue based support to the UPA would have finished off the Left and could have reduced support for the so called 3rd front, paving the way for a two-party system, which would have brought a lot of stability to the political system. BJP's stand on the nuclear deal left a lot to be desired, baffled many BJP insiders (Mr. BrijeshMishra being one such BJP member, who actually said that the deal was good for India and the BJP would have signed the deal had they been in power) and personally left me disappointed and saddened.
Let us admit it, gone are the days of Mr. Vajpayee. His immense goodwill has been squandered by Mr. Advani and his team, by their constant in-fighting and intra-party bickering. If things stay the way they are, the BJP may fade away into political oblivion, unless of course, Mr. NarendraModi is able to shift to the Centre.
I must further admit that I am no fan of the Congress either. Like many others, I somehow detest the thought of a pasta-eating foreigner leading India's oldest political party. With all the sycophancy, dynastic leadership style and rampant corruption within the Congress, there is a lot to be desired. No one can forget how the man-slaughter of Sikhs in 1984, had de-facto sanction of the Congress. And to top it all, when the perpetrators of the crime get an acquittal, the party's commitment to justice is questioned.
However, with Dr. Manmohan Singh at helm, the Congress has indeed shown some signs of a commitment to moving forward, consistently and decisively. The nuclear deal and reactions to 26/11 do show that Dr. Singh's A-team, comprising of Mr. Chidambaram and Mr. PranabMukherjee, does mean business.
A netizen once had argued with me saying that the Congress is lacking leaders. There is nobody to replace Mr. Chidambaram as Finance Minister, at a time when the world is facing the worst economic crisis in our living memories. He went on to say that our Prime Minister, who is fighting with his health, is playing multiple roles. He went to question how Sonia could lead the party.
My counter argument is that despite not having a full time Finance Minister, we have fared well on the economic front. And Dr. ManmohanSingh's A-team did hold the fort very well while he was away. Let's not forget, as opposed to the BJP, the Congress, today does have quite a few youth leaders who can step in if required.
It is obvious, that today, we as a nation are at cross-roads. The choices we make today will define how the India of tomorrow shapes the future of the world. The Congress, with Dr. Manmohan Singh seems to be our best bet.
At this point, I am reminded of Rahul Gandhi's powerful speech in the Parliament during the debate on the confidence vote on the nuclear issue on July 22, 2008, where he said that a powerful country thinks of how it can impact the world, whereas the not-so-powerful country of how the world would impact it.
Dr. ManmohanSingh's has in the last one year just done that - thinking of how India can impact the world, in imparting financial stability and achieving a secure neighbourhood. He sure does deserve another chance to make a difference to the world.
And we as players in the Great Indian Tamasha, i.e. as voters in the upcoming general elections, can help Dr. Manmohan Singh in that quest.
There are moments in history which are points of inflection.... when the attitudes change for the positive to help the nation emerge stronger, confident and unified.
It's well known that most of us, common Indians, thought that the 26/11 attacks on Bombay was such an event that would define our destiny.
But it seems that we are back to square one.
Just today, there was this news of a likely fidayeen hijack threat at all airports. Heightened security is the highlight of the day with panic all over. Chidambaram quickly goes on air to say that it's a false alarm and before we realise. Is he required to say all that so soon? Couldn't that have been a red herring?
And our media trumpets this news on the headlines, as a cheap thrill! Can't the media be more mature and show a little more restraint? This is really too much.
And then, our cricked crazed population was up in the arms when the government did not permit LalitModi to proceed with the Indian Premier League (IPL). Mr. Modi who went cribbing about this decsion should realise that IPL isn't larger than the nation. Was that maturity?
I think that was a brilliant decision on the part of the government. Look at this - the Taliban are knocking on our doors and we need not only defend borders, provide internal security but also let the elections happen peacefully, to ensure that policy making - on the security and economic front doesn't come to a standstill. In such a volatile scenario, can we let the security apparatus get distracted by some IPLhappening around the country? Maybe India would lose some revenue from the IPL this year, but we would be better off by having a peaceful election in the months to come. It's a pity we, as a society, are not mature enough to realise that.
And then, to top it all, Chidambaram terms communalism as the root cause of all terrorism. And the old man in a hurry (to become Prime Minister), Mr. Advani, is quick to give a scathing reply back. we are being done in by these petty politicians. Isn't it high time for all these grand old men to act mature and send out a signal that we stand as one against terror rather than blame each other. Let's not forget that it was Chidambaram's gang that supported the LTTE and Bhindrawale. And everyone knows who unleashed terror on the streets of Delhi in 1984 after Mrs. Indira Gandhi was assassinated. And wasn't it Mr. Advani's party's duty to soften the cherub Varun's statements? Is this what we call political maturity?
I suspect our inflection point is yet to come.... that would force us to mature as a society...
Today's edition of The Hindustan Times had this full page feature titled "