Battleground MH

With the general elections finally decided and new government about to assume charge, many people think that the political dust will finally settle... To political buffs like me, theres always the next election to watch out for...

I have already simultaneously followed the South African elections, Afghan presidential poll round one and have started following Egypt polls.. up next are Thailand & Indonesia...

Moving back to India, the mother of all assembly polls is here... cut to October, we will witness the poll in Maharashtra ..my "home" state literally...

People tend to believe thats its curtains for INC-NCP after 15 years of (mis) rule....I think this poll will go down to the wire.. Notwithstanding the Modi effect, NCP can make a come back quicker than the congress and Pawars will throw every last resource available to hold on to their bastion.

Many have begun to write MNS off but Raj Thackeray is no pushover.. on the contrary, if he decides to project himself as CM designate, I think we have a match in our hands... Liberal view of RT is very distorted and people abhor his ways.. But he is a great orator with decent policies and can capture Modi like imagination among the public... Not to mention the fact that local BJP does not have a strong face in spite of Munde's presence...

Its best in BJP's interests to align with MNS else in case of a hung assembly or a slight UPA edge, media, opponents and pseudo liberals will pounce and denounce the so called bursting of Modi bubble...and they will be shameless to call for his resignation ;-)

It remains to be seen if this assemble poll is indeed a cliff hanger or a piece of cake for NDA...

Pseudo Secular Liberals

The leftist pseudo secular liberals in India have always been modi baiters. They thought anointing him as PM candidates will make their job easy.. alas they have been proven wrong atleast by the opinion polls.. Now it seems they can't stomach this and have taken it upon themselves and their poisonous pens to cry foul...I am deeply apalled by two such opinions

Shiv Vishvanathan on The Hindu

Calls himself a social nomad. Works at JIndal University - Now you know his antecendants
This fellow asks is Modi is really BJP and goes on to say people in BJP dont like him and Modi himself doesn't believe in the party.. As if he is a know all. And honestly I haven't seen him even raise a whimper on how congress in centered around one family and the heir presumptive's reluctance, lack of knowledge , competency et all... For that matter I have never ever seen him talk anything that makes sense....

Dileep Padgaonkar on The Times of India
His report on Kashmir is a sad story
He goes overborard and compares Putin, Erdogan, Shizo Abe & buckets Modi in this category
He rants as if Modi will go the same way and predicts it to be wrong.. This guy tals as if Abe visiting the yasukuni shrine is a crime.. Whatever the history might be, the yasukuni is a Japanese memorial for its ex soldiers... he calls them hyper nationalistic...
Not sure of the intention of these guys...

If they were so worried about the nation, why didnt they question a single scam? The 2g Scam came to light thanks to the relentless efforts of Subramanian Swamy.. The CAG Vinod Rai was responsible for bringing out Coal Scam.. even the CWG Scam was done in by TV journos.. Padgaonkar, Shiv and their ilk had nothing to do about it.. they didnt even question the mindless appeasement and division through muslim census in armed forces or be the archaic reservation etc.. They didn't dare to raise a voice against any of the policy paralysis..

They just want to create a panic and predict doomsday....do they have a solution?? really not..  really wonder what sort of education these guys received.. and hyper nationalism??? these guys are not even nationalstic.. not even hypo these are anti nationals... Padagaonkar had links with Ghulam Nabi Fai who was shamed in the US for using ISI funds to bribe US to influence kashmir conflct.. and he is being called an eminent journalist!!! Liberals don't know what is liberal and what is anti national.. that line is invisible to them..

The very secularism they are trying to defend is flawed in India..Secular means to be EQUI DISTANT from all relgions.. meaning relegion will not determine any poilcy in governance.. The only secularists are atheists and communists...Nehru redefined secularism as equal respect to all religions but he himself did not follow that.. When Sardar Patel & Rajendra prasad requested him to consider rebuilding Somnath and told him that to be really secular, majority sentiments need to be respected, he did not budge.. That very act destroyed the secular fabric he intended to build.. from them on secularism in india meant bending over to please minorities (read muslims & christians in particular) and communalism meant anyone talking about hindu aspirations

Shiv Vishwanathan in his article praised Advani, Jaswant, joshi et all.. Cmon Advani is 86.. and no one cried for him in 2009 when he lost.. They were praising secular victory instead.. They even said BJP lacks the wherewithal to be the potent opposition it should be.. when BJP assers itself by sideliening advani, the same gang cries foul. Jaswant was member of Darjeeling in 2009.. why does he need Barmer again.. last time he was ok with darjeeling because he came in at the last minute, this time he cries?? ha ha.. and whats wrong about moving joshi around.. he too is 75+  ..... We have a lame duck PM who never ever tried contesting Lok sabha and blaming a party who is trying to get their PM candidate elected?

If people are going to vote on the fear of persecution and not bothered about the economy then this country certainly deserves every scam.. here a bangaladesji can get a voter id in minutes but a genuine voter has to go through multiple hassles..

If these liberals want to preserve this sort of secularism then the country better be doomed!!

Central Government

So we are back to a situation where the government is tottering and an election may hit us anytime. Though I am not a great fan of congress purely because of the corruption and the pseudo secular agenda it has, I still feel that FDI is retail is needed .. One thing is it will make our local products even more competitive and innovative..  But thats apart, why are we so dependent on such smaller fringe parties to run a country.. Honestly Nitish Kumar (22), Mamta B (19) Mayawati (21) Mulayam (22) MK (18) should not have this much bargaining power.  The people who drafted the constitution committed a great blunder by accepting a plurality electoral system for such a large country.. This means anyone can win in a local area and if that area happens to have a greater population/seats he /she has a better bargaining card.. Imagine this, one state UP has more bargaining power than 7-8 states put together.. Imagine the plight of north east.. they have hardly 20 MPs for 7 states or including sikkim 8 states???

Lalu, Mulayam, left etc. say that they will still support corrupt congress than BJP just because of secularism?? what is secular??? USSR was the only secular nation.. secularism means EQUI DISTANCE from all religions.. appeasing a minority religion is definitely non secular... I cant understand how a muslim league in kerala can be a part of secular alliance and a BJP is fundamental!!!

The predominantly catholic populace of Goa have waken up and realised that the so called hindu party can offer better governance .. Thats how a nation is built.. not by the myopic polices of appeasement

Will a mid term poll throw a clear winner? I don't think so.. It will only help increase the bargaining power of people like Nitish.. I have begun to hate that man... Bihar has a total of 243 setats of which he has 115 and BJP 91.. he has a vote share of only 22% in Bihar and yet he nurtures ambition of being PM? compare that to Modi who's part of a national party, has absolute majority in his state and has a better governance record.. Oh no but Modi killed muslims???  so by that standard congress should never be voted n Punjab as they killed far many sikhs in 1984!!!!

The problem the country has now is there is no real opposition!!! BJP is targeted left right and centre even by the media and that weakens it. Its allies are not very consistent.. Only God knows what Shiv Sena's agenda is.. they support congress candidate in every presidential elections.. appear desirous of winning Maharashtra legislative assemble and are content with BMC alone!!  Nitish is behaving as if he is the lord of Bihar.. he doesn't realise if BJP goes out then Lalu has a stronger chance of  winning Bihar than himself.. BJP shot itself in the foot by distancing BJD....only BJD can save them.. Andhra is a black hole with TDP going down and out !!!

The best option is to mandate that there should be only two major political formations at the centre and the leader of a particular formation depends on the vote share .. To be in power one of the formations must have in excess of 50% vote share!!! Based on the vote share seats should be allocated ...simply put to win a seat, any one must have 50% vote share or more.. this  may result in a primary/run off election format but that expense is worth it...

This will ensure party with a pan india presence (congress or BJP or someone else tomorrow) to shape the country's policies as opposed to a fringe player with a local presence.. I definitely don't want Mulayam or Nitish as PM.. I wouldn't vote for both in the current scenario..

The best coalition government this country had was in 1999-2004!! In 1998 ABV had the guts not to horse trade, lose by 1 vote and seek fresh mandate.. because he knew that he will be able to win over people.. He showed how strong the PM's office can be even with so called coalition compulsions...
Does the current govt. have the guts to do so?

Still a lot of this local players will support the same formation as they can derive maximum benefit!!

If we don't get the act right then this country is in a great danger of descending into a greater chaos

political situation..

Just wondering about the current political situation, whether mid term polls or not, what happens to a third fourth fifth front etc... I have a firm belief that the third front of regional parties will never work at the central government.. It will be a harakiri.. We need to main national parties, ably supported by the regional ones... Currently, Congress and BJP play the roles of 2 contenders.. it might change if any one of the regional parties honestly attempt to play a constructive role instead of the gimmick of third front and make a difference to the people... Congress was needed after independence and some of its ways were fine during the first 10-20 years of the country ... But the main problem is it has not been quick on its toes and continued with Nehruvian policies for long until a survival threat loomed which opened the country to liberalization ... It just does not nurture a national leadership beyond one family.. all other leaders are reduced to mere sycophants .. Its brand of secularism is questionable as it tries to over appease minorities to win over votes.. and even after winning does not do much to improve their social status.. It was also responsible for one of the worst riots in the country (1984) .. That makes it no different from the BJP.. With all these, its has not done much during the send term of the current govt.. ppl voted for ups even after some shortcomings in UPA 1. That faith has not been kept.. On the other hand, BJP with many of its shortcomings has been better in delivering good governance in many of the states it rules ( some are bad but the % of good is more ) Currently, in Goa, it has won such a huge mandate so definitely its not anti minority... As a party, if you look at BJP it has more discipline than many other parties.. it does not look up to one family, the party president keeps changing.. The current set of national leaders seem more prepared in their debates in parliament.. So i guess the next time an election happens, BJP does deserve a chance and to make it happen, it should balance the coalition with the correct regional partners...

Bihar Polls

Two phases of bihar polls over and most people predict a second term for Nitish Kumar...

Some facts that i found interesting...

The quitest assembly elections it seems media have not covered the usual stuff like "in the campaign trail wit so n so" etc..
Lalu has run out of steam and all his so called charm is not to be seen
The brother in laws have deserted him
Rabri is contesting from two seats as there is a real chance that she might lose from the one tome bastion Raghopur
Polling percentage over 50 pc inspite of naxal boycott plan... Alas Metro citizens will talk a lot but only 36 pc vote...

Only thing that still stands put is the 4 phase month long festival.... I think we can conduct the same in 15 days as well...

Party Leadership

In my last post, I just said that we should focus on improving ourselves and not succumb to :"Learn from X" syndrome...
Well I am actually trying to think on how can we do it by just observing others and not try to copy.

In the meantime, i was following the UK Labour Party Leadership election in which Ed Miliband pipped his much known sibling David..

Well David was UK secretary of State under Gordon Brown and a protege of Tony Blair.. He is the same man who went on poverty tourism with Rahul baba and had his foot in mouth when he offered an unsolicited advice on kashmir, which had drawn flak from all quarters and Brown had to refute it as the minister's personal opinion..

Well the election to party leadership in UK is an interesting one.. while the tories elect from MPs and the party members, Labour have an extended electoral college comprising of even trade unions as well..

As with other elections, every candidate is expected to set out policies and win votes... Seems interesting ...
In the UK the leader of the party is the leader of the government/opposition as well..

In the US of A, both the parties are run by National committees, the DNC and RNC respectively for the democrats and republicans...
The chairperson of the committee is the party head... and that person is responsible for the party alone... The government / opposition is run by senators/representatives and the head of the government is the president. The nomination for president is a separate race at the time of elections.. i would say that this is a bit complicated.. Well what else can you expect from US..

COming back to India, well talking about the two major parties.. lets take BJP first.. The BJP is a mixture of both US and UK as per my view.. The party president is elected for a fixed term of 3 years and the term is considered religiously.. Much like US the party president is responsible for party only and the government / opposition head is elected by the parliamentary party..
Much like labour party, the root organization (RSS) has a say in the party leadership.. I feel that this is a good system.. If only the BJP could win more hearts to form a government... The party seems more disciplined than any other in the country...

Another party which follows a set system is the commie group.. both CPI and CPM have politburos and religiously( or rather atheistically ;) ) elect general secretaries and so on...

Congress was a disciplined organization with a party leadership different from government before madam G.. but after madam G, the party leadership is the same as government or usually a puppet heads the party dancing to the tune of the dynasty... Off late the leadership has turned powerful after 2004.. and the government dances to the tune of the party now.. But there is no leadership contest .. only one person is nominated and elected unanimously without even alternate opinion.. well how democratic is that? People can predict who the next party president is going to be.. hmm

Same is the case with most regional parties... all being run as fiefdoms..

I dont want us to emulate anyone but atleast have some system in place and make the leadership selection more visible...

Hey Ram – Part 2

I was never a fan or an ardent critic of Rahul Gandhi. Till about a few hours ago I didn't really know much details about his education and so on. I happened to see his wikipedia page and browse some other links in the net just out of curiosity.

There has been a deluge of links, blogs videos which make claims and counter claims about his qualifications, original citizenship details etc. It is not obviously possible to discuss everything here. But yes, it is disturbing trend that more the number of hits to a video, the sooner it disappears with the website citing usage violation. Ignoring everything that his being said regarding credentials,I just could not help laughing at a certain video(The Video). Naah the video isn’t about someone making a ridiculous claim about him. The video has the congress general secretary speaking on the geographical size of Gujarat and then India. He says Gujarat is bigger than UK. Well we can excuse him for that faux pas as it might have just come in the moment. The next thing is just off the roof… He says India is bigger than the US and Europe put together.. Now this is the best that one can come up with. It would have been easier to accept had it come from some son of some politician. But from the Gandhi scion !!!!! That too he has been educated in the UK @Cambridge and seems has worked in Michael Porter’s firm. Such a gaffe from him… hey raam our PM in waiting is worse than George Bush…

how foolish

i cant fathom why the INC did not decide on the speaker post along with the ministry.. they make meira kumar a minister, then ask her to resign and then make her a speaker... media as usual is gaga abt it first woman n dalit speaker... well they express this dalit word so much that it creates a sort of awkward situation.. they harped so much abt the first dalit prez kr narayanan so much that a french newspaper published his profile as untouchable something like that... then everyone got offended... but Mr narayanan said that the fault was that of the Indian media which just highlighted his caste credentials so much that his other genuine qualifications ( he was a career diplomat) got shadowed...hope they dont create such situation for Meira.. guys we all know that now in India anybody can reach any post :-)... no need to harp....as a matter of fact Meira is also an ex IFS officer....lets see what more the INC has got...now they will have a reshuffle once in 8-9 months as usual... at times its just too boring .....but as and when the assemble elections keep happening we are bound to see more and more drama...