Scandals Surrounding the Govt & Alternatives Available

I am sure there are no readers left for my blog as now I blog once in a century!! Last time I blogged was in the previous decade!

Nevertheless, for my creative satisfaction, here is my take on the scandals beleaguering the Government of India & the limited alternatives that the common man has.

Scandals:

Let us first try and list as many as we can remember:

1. 2G Scam: One of the most hyped cases, primarily because of the money involved .i.e. INR 1.76 Lac crores. But, I honestly think that its not that big a deal because its an opportunity loss & not an actual loss. Unlike in the case of "the fodder scam"wherein the money actually went into Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav's Swiss Bank account.

How many zeroes are there in 1.76 Lac Crores.. lets try.. 1760,00,00,00,000/- thats 10 zeroes.!!! thats a big opportunity loss though!

2. CWG Scam: Well thats what I call a scam!! Kalmadi.. what a man!! He knew that the entire nation would be watching this very closely & still he took the risk. Somebody has rightly said.. there is a very slight difference between a businessman & a fool.. a businessman takes calculated risks. Kalmadi, ladies & gentleman, is not a businessman.

But, to my surprise, one person who got a clean chit & who certainly should not have, Mrs. Shiela Dixit. She made tonnes of money in the entire episode & not even a single finger was pointed at her. I would want to give credit to Shiela ki Jawani!!.. but that won't be fair.

3. Adarsh Society Scam: My take on it is that these guys simply ran out of luck. Every third building in our country is built on land that belongs to the Waqf board or some other ministry & nothing (absolutely nothing) happens to them. But this one got a lot of limelight & now is gone!

Moral of the story: Never mess with the soldiers.

4. LIC Housing Loan Scam: Every now & then, one such scam in the financial domain comes up. The primary reason for this has been beautifully explained in a song by Late Mr. Mehmood.. "the whole thing is that ke bhaiyya sabse bada rupaiyya".

5. IPL Scam: One of the most glamorous scams involving tonnes loads of money being transferred from & to anonymous bank accounts. The whose who of the glamour industry, politics & corporate India came together to participate in a mela organized by Lalit Modi. Mr. Modi has an interesting history with ex-CM of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje Scindia btw. But more on that some other time.

6. KG Balakrishnan Scam: This truly is an embarrassment. The judicial system is "perceived"as one of the least corrupted organization of the country. But, that is on a relative scale.

Anyhow, something like this is least expected from the Chief Justice of India, one man in the country who is certified to be fair. CJI's do indulge in such practices towards the end of their careers, but stay in limits & ensure that they don't come in the limelight, but Dr. Balakrishnan did not realize this.

7. Citi Group Scam: Floating a fraudulent scheme & raising money that individuals did on an entrepreneurial level .i.e. people used to form bogus companies & raise money on their name & thus were limited by the amount of capital they could raise. Mr.Puri moved up the ladder & did it in the name of Citi Group.. Innovative I must say!!

So, these are the scams that are haunting the current government & are indirectly affecting us too.

On Telangana

Well, its been quite long since my last post. I guess those of my friends who said I won't be as regular were right. But none the less, better late than never.

I have been wanting to write about the Telangana issue for quite some time & I realize that the post is also very late. But as I said.. better late than.... :)

Andhra Pradesh = Andhra Pradesh + Telangana

Why do residents of Telangana want a separate state? Don't they know how much they gain by sharing the resources with Andhra Pradesh? Don't they have any clue how difficult life would become for them surviving as a separate state altogether?

Well, if you think of it, there are many residents of Telangana who truly believe that they should be given a separate state & believe me, they are neither affiliated to nor influenced by any political party. This did not spring up all of a sudden. The problem was there since the very beginning. Here is a brief on how it started & why it has scaled up to these levels.

How did it Start: Telangana was declared a separate kingdom at the time of independence. Telangana, like 17 other princely states, was merged with the India by a force called Sardar Patel. In 1953, Telangana was merged into Andhra Pradesh as one single. This was much against the wants of the residents of Telangana & understandably so. Not only were they deprived of their independent princely state status but also not given the status of a separate state. The revolt then was suppressed by both power (of Sardar Patel) & the joy of uniting under one roof (India).

But.. boss that was 1953, 56 years ago. The people who wanted an independent state then are either dead or in the waiting list; & children, today, care for nothing but their dying parents' money, leave alone their aspirations for a new state. These aspirations were kept alive by our political parties.

Reasons for Scaling up: Very few people know that there was a similar revolt, demanding a separate state of Telangana in 1969 which was moderated by the, then CM of state, P.V. Narsimha Rao. Here, Congress was the one fighting to keep the state united.

Much to the contrary, the revolt in 2000 was sparked by MLA's of the Congress party itself from Telangana. They formed a separate party called Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to protest against the then coalition government formed by BJP along with TDP (Telugu Desam Party). As is usual, BJP had come to power promising a separate state for Telangana as they did for Jharkhand & Chhattisgarh, but failed in this case because they did not get the support of TDP, their supporting party in the government.

Thus, in the form of BJP, TRS & Congress, the hopes of the citizens, for a separate state were kept alive for 57 years with Congress backing off in 2006. The Congress Party is still not in favour of a separate state.

If you think of it, the residents of Telangana have a point:

Telangana is the largest single region of the three regions of AP, covering 41.47% of its total area, is inhabited by 40.54% of the state’s population, contributes about 76% to the state’s revenues (excluding central government contribution).

But, if everybody follows the same criterion then all the metros should demand for a separate country as their economy on paper is more than self sufficing. The people of Telangana should also realize the importance of synergy effect. Telangana is what it is because of the cooperation from the other parts of AP. Probably, the people realize it also, but the politicians will not let the realization popularize. After all, this is one horse which always wins them the race.

I just hope that the no. of states does not increase.. its difficult to keep a track you know.. :)

Cheers!!

Current Affairs: Rahul Gandhi's Bihar Strategy; Shiv Sena

Rahul Gandhi's Bihar Strategy

Rahul Gandhi has, in the 2009 General Elections, proved his metal by laying a strong foundation for Congress in its old lost ground Uttar Pradesh, which I say time & again, is the epicenter of Indian Politics.

Now his target seems to be Bihar, which is another old lost ground, & a very strong political vote bank, for congress. Congress lost Bihar back in 1975-77 by an anti-Indira Gandhi movement led by Raj Narain & Jai Prakash Narayan.

Following lines (in italics) is a brief history of what exactly happened back then. Only those who are interested, go through it.

In 1971, Raj Narain & JP Narayan filed a case against Indira Gandhi in Allahabad High Court of her using the government machinery to rig the elections procedure as well as voting. tIn 1975, he Allahabad High Court Justice Jagmohanlal Sinha ruled it in favour of Raj Narain & held Indira Gandhi guilty of the charges & ordered a re-election. It was here that Indira Gandhi forced the President of India to declare a nation-wide emergency. The state of emergency lasted till 1977 after which Congress had lost its vote bank in UP to Raj Narain & in Bihar to JP Narain. In fact in the next general elections, Janata Party (led by JP Narayan), a non-Congress party formed the central government. UP & Bihar have, since then been a shame for the Congress.

Rahul Gandhi, looking at the current scenario in Bihar, knows that Congress can no longer piggy-back on RJD. RJD, formed my Lalu Prasad Yadav, got only 2 seats in the 2009 general elections. That leaves only one strong candidate, Nitish Kumar of JD(U) - Janata Dal (United) which is the current ruling party. Since, JD (U) is an NDA ally, Congress needs to build up its own footing in Bihar. The dynamics of Bihar politics, as we all know, are very different. One might say that a person like Rahul Gandhi may not be able to understand how to penetrate into such a market. But, I think he can, especially considering Congress' performance in UP where he was competing with veterans like Mulayam Singh Yadav (Samajwadi Party) & Gundas like Mayawati (BSP). Here he has the experience of Jagadish Titler who is the Observer of Bihar & his marketing managers, who I am sure know how to penetrate into a rural market.

Shiv Sena + MNS v/s Rest of India (Including sensible Maharashtrians)

We have heard/seen/read about this discussions/arguements/fights, time & again. But, I don't know why Shiv Sena & MNS do not seem to get over it. They are still riding on the same old khacchar (hybrid of horse & donkey), promoting maharashtrians. Wasn't one incidence in Air India embarassing enough. A Marathi air hostess (hired as a mandate because of Shiv Sena) said to the other "fukta rice" when the passenger had asked for "only rice" & the passenger got offended (for obvious reasons) & filed a case against the airlines.

These people have had a problem with possibly everybody popular & who are in media limelight. I wonder why is it that, they target the popular personalities to force their opinions on them. Why are these issues always highlighted in the media when they can also say call them personally. More importantly, how can people, from any community appreciate such actions.

Here are some of the recent incidences in which the following were the victims:

1. Amitabh Bachchan & Jaya Bachchan for supporting Hindi as the national language at a press conference in Mumbai

2. Sachin Tendulkar (who is a Maharashtrian) for considering himself an Indian first

3. Karan Johar for using Bombay instead of Mumbai in his movie wake-up sid

4. SRK for criticising IPL on not permitting Pakistani players to play.

All they are doing is promoting regionalism which is worse than terrorism. Terrorism creates terrorists which are still countable, but regionalism makes everyone a terrorist. Imagine states fighting with each other like Hindus & Muslims fight. There will be riots within each state, not just between religions but, between regions. These people don't realize but what they are doing is not going to build their vote bank but divide it as there will be Shiv Senas for every small community. What will result is a micro-divide & all the hard work of Sardar Patel for uniting this nation would be wasted. I sincerely hope that these people realize this & change their tactics of winning votes.

Political Introduction

I never thought I would blog. Used to consider it a total waste of time, both for the reader as well as the writer. Honestly, I haven't read even a single blog in my life. Sincerely hope somebody reads this though. After all the fighting with myself, I finally decide to blog. Blog about what.. the topic that excites me the most.. Indian Politics!!

Why did I choose this topic? A great man once told me that in India, 3 topics will always have an audience.. Cricket, Bollywood & Politics. The first two are already flooded with blogs, websites, portals etc. That leaves politics.. which is my forte'. At least I'd like to believe that. Also, by means of this blog, I want to express my views on politics as well as educate people who are more ignorant than me & I know there are many.

I, like any new blogger, started by benchmarking a few good blogs on the same topic. But, to my shock, I did not find any. Maybe I did not search it properly, but there still are very few blogs on this topic. Ironically this is the most favourite tea-time topic for all the Indians, even more than cricket & bollywood.. Yes! Its true!

What is Politics?

Simply put, Politics is the tactics of becoming the policy makers & more importantly, being there.

In hindi, Rajneeti = Raj+Neeti. This is a little more blunt & says directicly - it is one universal set that inculcates all the tactics to rule.

Talking of Indian Politics per say, I believe it is as dramatic, versatile & universal as theatre. All ministers are mere actors who have their role plays. They keep on switching roles though (changing stands), but thats a test as well as rule of theatre - only the versatile actors survive in the long run. The IAS officers play a very critical role as they are the script writers who decide what is it that the minister must do. They also are, at times, the assistant directors who ensure that the play moves in the right(or wrong) direction in the absence of the director. The director over here is the Public.. Aawaam.. Janta, which is generally very sleepy & absent. As the famous man William Shakespeare said all the world's a stage & we are mere actors; the same man who said.. "whats there in the name" & wrote his name William Shakespeare below it.

Before getting deeper into politics & my opinion on them, it is important to first tell you what I think of some of the important parties & personalities of the field, without whom the Indian Political Circle would be amorphous or shapeless.

Indian National Congress: The oldest political party of India which came back in power in 2004 after a dry spell. I believe that the only reason why the Congress has lasted all these years inspite of all the ups & downs is their positioning strategy. They have constantly revised their market positioning as per the changing economic & political environment in the country. In short, they have been dynamic enough to realize the changing mindset of people & agile enough to react accordingly. The key leaders of today are:

- Sonia Gandhi: Honest & smart

- Rahul Gandhi: Dynamic & the new face

- Manmohan Singh: Sthit Pragyah - Thats Sanskrit for Stable Mind

- Pranab Mukherjee: Stainless Steel - as effective as he was 25 years back

- P. Chidambram: Money Maker

Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP): Established in 1980, this party specializes in the role of opposition. Earlier led by Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, BJP is arguably the second biggest party of India & successfully led the NDA to form the central government. But, I believe that the party has a lot more potential than what it performs. What it lacks is 2 things. One, a spearhead & second, a brand manager.

Nitin Gadkari looks promising & has a lot of energy but lacks the experience to compete with the lights of Sonia Gandhi & Mayawati.

The other leaders like Arun Jaithley, Sushma Swaraj are very genuine but seem to be larger than life for the common man.

One man who has emerged as the only solid & consistent player in this game is Narendra Modi. He has made Gujarat his den where nobody can even dream of competing with him. He has played the dirtiest politics ever (of course less than Mayawati) but has made a beautiful fountain on it & made it look as if there was nothing there before the fountain. So everybody has forgotten about the dirt that was there.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP): Honestly, it is the fastest elephant I have seen in my life. A creation of Uttar Pradesh, the state which is the epicenter of Indian Politics, the party has seen exponential growth in the last 7 years. The entire credit (or blame) goes to our own behenji - Mayawati. Mayawati is one sister (behen) who does not require raksha.. in fact others require protection from her. A ruthless bag of corruption, extortion, manipulation & everything that has been advised against by all religions in the world is what can describe 1 ppm (part per million) of Mayawati. Shes that and much more. But, again whatever she does, she gets the votes & that is what matters (in the short run). Misuse of power is tolerable, but she is a perfect example of abuse of power which is like digging your own grave. Eg. Lalu Prasad Yadav.. who has vanished off the scene now.

There are other prominent parties too, including NCP, DMK, Left Front, SP, JD, RSS, Trinamool Congress etc which have helped shape Indian Politics, but I am not updated enough to comment on them as of now.

In this blog, I will be discussing the latest happenings in the world of politics, trying to relate them with instances in the past & expressing my opinions on the same. Lets see, I hope this will be fun!!