Years of effort washed in few minutes of 'emotion'?

The Sharm Al Sheikh declaration between India and Pakistan has become a hot potato for the overnment to handle. India for the first time has been driven to the backfoot by Pak diplomacy. From being a victim of terror to formentor terror, India covered a long distance within 20 minutes of one to one between India PM and Pakistan PM. No one knows what transpired in the one to one meeting and no one will ever know because the RTI act does not include these discussions. But one thing is for sure, India gave temuch more than it got. Was it US pressure or was it the wish to go down in history books or was it the temptation of a Noble Peace Prize, one might never find out. What we find out on a daily basis is that while we have been stripped of our pposition to question Pakistan on terror attacks here, we see an accusation from the other side about Baluchistan on a daily basis.

This is when the statesman like Atal Bihari Vajpayee and cunning fox Late. Narsimha Rao score heavily over Manmohan Singh.

YUPA?

One more deviation from the stand taken last year and during the election campaign. Now we have gone ahead with EUMA (End User Monitoring Agreement) with the US. One of the interesting points of this agreement is - US Administration has a right to monitor that the systems sold by them to India can't be used against US allies. This ties down India to the changing dimplomatic positions of US vis-a-vis allies. Plus that line combined with the flip flops on Pakistan being a US ally makes thione think if in a situation of battle, can India use systems against Pakistan without US coming down heavily on it. This plus many other terms which clearly show that India again bowed to US pressure and Govt has backtracked from the promises made to the Parliament and the nation..

In last 1 week, this is the third time that India succumbed to the US pressure. The Emission discussion in Italy, the Indo-Pak declaration under US pressure and now the EUMA. At this rate, this governemtn is slowly turning from UPA to YUPA - Yield Under Pressure Alliance.

Down but not out

One of the most common statement we hear these days from media, common people, experts is about BJP in disarray. While mos tof the common public says this with some amount of curiousity, doubt and worry, the media and experts sound extremely glad. But then most of them forget a few things, which I am trying to point out.

While BJP lost the elections and came down to 116 seats, more than 80 seats were lost with a margin of less than 15,000 votes or less than 2%. This means that with some more effort in right direction, the tide can and will change.
In 1998 and 1999 elections, Congress was down to the same tally as BJP currently but then they did manage to bounce back in 2004. And plus BJP in 1989 bounced from 2 seast to 85 seats. So there is no reason why history cannot repeat itself. All we need is to have basic faith in our ideology.
If one looks at the Congress record over the years, it is clear that in absence of a strong opposition, Congress starts running this country like a personal kingdom and then starts the cycle of corruption, nepotism, sychopancy and violation of human rights. For this main reason, it is important that BJP stays strong. It's not only in BJP's interests but also in the interest of the country.
The glaring difference in BJP's post-lost actions and Congress's post-loss action in 1998 and 99 is that not only does BJP start thinking on ideological terms but the experts, the media and common man also expects it to think about its ideology one way or other. Compared to this, all Congress did was "we need Gandhis" after their earlier electoral losses. This is a redeeming feature in BJP and Left. They fight elections on ideological grounds. And that's why post losses, the discussion on ideology starts. It's always in national interests to have a mainstream national party which fights on ideology and not on individuals. And after a loss, one does not need to change the ideology but just the means to communicate it better and more clearly. This I am sure, BJP has already begun.

The battle's lost but the war's still on.

Arrogance of Power

Something's can never change whatever be the time span. And Congress blue blood arrogance is back. After winning just over 200 seats in the elections, one is seeing a spate of activities in opposition rules states and a clamour for President's Rule. So far, the President's Rule has been demanded in West Bengal, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh and now Uttar Pradesh. Congress is back to it's original thinking that nobody except they are destined to rule India. It seems very laughable when Rita Bahuguna Joshi targets Mayawati on rape cases in the most abusive language used in Indian Politics. She seems to forget the history wherein Congress leaders have been found guilty of the biggest sex scandals in India - Jalgaon, Srinagar, Indore and Delhi, in last 2 decades. And then comes the 'PM in waiting' or should one say Proxy PM, Rahul Gandhi on the infrastructure woes of UP. Can someone remind him that his party has been ruling that state for nearly 4 decades and if there is someone to blame for the lack of development in India, it has to be only and only Congress. But then, who will say that Emperor has no clothes?

It's surprising that this arrognace is kept aside only for India and Indians. Because the moment the PM steps out, he seems to bow down to everything, right from the stand on Pollution in Developing Countries to Terror and talks with Pakistan. It would help the country if rather than showing their bravado to Indians, the government shows some on the international circuit where it is fast replacing UK as US's paddle dog.

The 'Liberal' slip in showing

While watching the landmark and welcome judgment on homosexuality, I enjoyed what I call the wicked pleasure. This pleasure was to see the so-called liberals like John Dayal, Father Emmanuel, Kamal Farooqi, Kalbe Javed etc show their real intolerant face. For long these 'gentlemen' have been the darling of media, activists and political parties who don't miss a chance to parade these liberals to take on the right-wing intolerant. But yesterday, they stood exposed as they went on their religious beliefs and how their beliefs were bigger than the judgement or the human rights of the homosexual community. It was sad the way these guys were turning a day of respect to a day of shame.

Next time, I hope I don't get mails of liberalism, tolerance and human rights coming out of a church flooding my mail box just because they were on receiving end.

What's in a name??

Did someone say - What's in a name anyways? Well, if one goes by the Indian political standards, there is a lot more to name.

More than half the country is named after Nehru Gandhi family. It was possibly sheer luck that during the Emergency days of Indira and the brute majority days of Rajiv, they did not make an amendment to constitution that alteast one member of each family should be names after a Nehru or Gandhi and their future generations. That actually is the only thing left.

What Congress does at the centre is done by the regional parties in states. That's why you have roads, bridges, flyovers, highways, grounds, slums, schools named after the regional satraps and their families.

In late 90s, when Nitin Gadkari was the PWD minister in BJP-Shiv Sena government, he and MSRDC has made a decision not to name the infrastructure projects after any politician. That's why we still have the Mumbai Pune Express Highway being called that instead of Indira Gandhi Road or Sanjar Gandhi Marg. It is high time, a similar policy is followed and the country is spared from turning into a Gandhistan from Hindustan.