UP: Voting rights of new MLAs

@ Vinod Sharma

Now tthis blog has me mystified. Are you saying that in case there is Presidents rule, UP assmebly members will now be inportant for the Rajya Sabha and the election of the President? Of course they will be.

By the way my opinion is that the UP polls have got the animal out in the Press and politicains

a) The press and media could only see Rahul Gandhi everywhere, even though the party is set to be fourth and have less that 15% vote. To the media, 85% did not matter, 15% did

b) The wooing of Muslims was on basis of accentuating the divides. If Salman has talked about 18% reservation…. well how is he different from Jinnah?

c) How will we break up UP now ? Obviously you need the SP’s support. And the SP would want to milk this state for the next 5 years. In the end UP will slip below Bihar in the development table

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Mr. Sharma should have delayed this week’s blog by another day. Probably he thought it would be wise to get over his weekly chore today as from tomorrow onwards he would have very little time away from the TV studios. I love to see him there too.

Well, lets wait for tomorrow and we’d not talk in terms of “ifs” and “buts” any more.

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Vinodji

“The prospects of such a logjam are remote. If she loses elections, the incumbent CM will be under tremendous “moral pressure” to quit, paving way for the new order”.

Since when the party supremos have ever been held responsible for the poll debacles? It is always the minions who are made scapegoats or willingly become ones. Has anyone seen the Gandhis, Karunanidhis, Thakres, Badals, etc. ever holding themselves responsible for the disasters. So why should Mayawati be any different?

In fact, in the Congress Party, the sycophants have already started taking the blame, thus protecting the family.

The litmus test for supremo himself/herself (no matter what the sycophants and lower level leaders say) standing up and say ‘I am to be blamed’. We will have to wait and see if anyone passes this test by the weekend.

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What tomorrow will bring
1. Rout of Congress in UP. Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Digvijay and Khurshid will come to fisticuffs in assuming responsibility for the debacle.
2. Visit of Amrinder to Golden Temple to thank the Gods – “lucky Rahul did not campaign in Punjab”
3. Ditto all Congressmen in Uttarakhand- visiting the Char-dhaam to thank the Gods for keeping Rahul away.
4. A section of Congressmen in Goa blame a faulty mike and Digambar Kamat’s less than timely action to make it functional – which kept the electorate from listening to MaunMohan Singh. However Kamat and the vast majority of Congressmen claim the results would have been far worse if the mike was functional and actually claim this was a strategic move.
Sources in PMO release a note saying there was no problem with the mike- the PM’s voice happened to be attenuated by 60dB on the given day.
5. In the meantime; in the BJP:
Kalraj, Rajnath and Uma issue separate statements vowing to support any one of the 55 UP CM aspirants from BJP including but not limited to “those who normally live in Delhi”, “who have never before contested an election” and “those who have periodic cross-border forays into UP”.
The electorate has spoken.
6. And, not to forget- Vinod Sharma takes to blogging and to print journalism in right earnest as there is less audience interest in TV studios in what twists, turns and spins he imparts to the politics of the day.

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What tomorrow will bring
1. Rout of Congress in UP. Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Digvijay and Khurshid will come to fisticuffs in assuming responsibility for the debacle.
2. Visit of Amrinder to Golden Temple to thank the Gods – “lucky Rahul did not campaign in Punjab”
3. Ditto all Congressmen in Uttarakhand- visiting the Char-dhaam to thank the Gods for keeping Rahul away.
4. A section of Congressmen in Goa blame a faulty mike and Digambar Kamat’s less than timely action to make it functional – which kept the electorate from listening to MaunMohan Singh. However Kamat and the vast majority of Congressmen claim the results would have been far worse if the mike was functional and actually claim this was a strategic move.
Sources in PMO release a note saying there was no problem with the mike- the PM’s voice happened to be attenuated by 60dB on the given day.
5. In the meantime; in the BJP:
Kalraj, Rajnath and Uma issue separate statements vowing to support any one of the 55 UP CM aspirants from BJP including but not limited to “those who normally live in Delhi”, “who have never before contested an election” and “those who have periodic cross-border forays into UP”.
The electorate has spoken.
6. And, not to forget- Vinod Sharma takes to blogging and to print journalism in right earnest as there is less audience interest in TV studios in what twists, turns and spins he imparts to the politics of the day.

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Indian National anthem by hearing and speech impaired kids..Really moving.

Please forward this video to 31 mins….
http://khabar.ndtv.com/video/show/vinod-dua-live/225550

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How the Samajwadi freebies bill adds up

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/how-the-samajwadi-freebies-bill-adds-up/920499/0

Excerpt

The Samajwadi Party, which the exit polls predict as the largest party in the UP elections, has promised various sections a whole lot of freebies, including unemployment allowance, loan waivers, free electricity, free laptops and tablets. What the party manifesto doesn’t say is how the money will be raised for these.

Rough calculations show the freebies will involve a recurring expenditure of about Rs 11,000 crore annually, besides a one-time expenditure of another Rs 11,000 crore. In 2010-11, the state had a revenue surplus of only Rs 566 crore.

“The promises are neither practical nor financially feasible,” said Prof Yashvir Tyagi, professor of economics at Lucknow University. “Rather than announcing freebies, the government needs to make investments to strengthen the economy.”

———-

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Time the ministry made its stand clear

http://www.thehindu.com/sport/other-sports/article2963843.ece

Excerpt

People do ask, however, why the Government has not taken steps to dissociate with Dow in our own country instead of trying to pressure the IOC and the London organisers with the Olympics round the corner.

Only on Monday, the IOA acting president, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, pointed out that the Indian Council for Agricultural Research had held a seminar last month with sponsorship from Dow!

An Indian boycott will not hurt the IOC or the London organising committee (LOCOG). It will not affect the quality of the competitions as had happened with major boycotts in 1976, 1980 and 1984 with the African, American and Eastern blocs respectively staying away from the quadrennial games.

It will, however, dash the hopes of around 100 Indian sports persons.

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Sometimes there are good things in bad things.

The anti-nuclear power folks are organizing a “Kundakulam CHALO” march here in TN later part of the month.

My dad says that they have named it “CHALO” is a big progress. He says nobody would have been courageous in the 70s to use a Hindi word for a public procession, insisting on Tamil everywhere!

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THE DISTANT THUNDER
Folks iI am reeling from a double whammy. First the nightmare of samajbadi party being enthroned. And SP will win only by DEFAULT , because of splititting of votes. The measure of wickedness in the character of samajbadi party can be ascertained from the fact Jyoti Basu was Mulayam ’s guru. Jaisa guru woisa chela.
Just like CPM did , banned english till class 5 in WB , Mulayam and the cow brains hates english language. IT IS LIKE HATING VACCINATIONS.This is the party which used to exempt all BACCHAN films from Entertainment tax YET , “Bose the forgotten hero” by Shyam Benegal never was even considered for such a favour.
JUST LIKE CPM OPPOSED COMPUTERS , MULAYAM OPPOSED COMPUTERS(though his son used a crude ploy by bribing with laptops)
I cry for ARYAVARTA.
Next the EVEN MORE DARKER CLOUD ON THE HORIZON.
There was a program in BBC2 tonight.
IT IS ABOUT TRANSMUTATION (my word) of CHINA
China is changing beyond wildest imagination
WHOLESCALE UPROOTING OF VILLAGERS and then their settlement in a SPANKY NEW CITY(needs to be seen to be beleived)
Apparently happening in every corner of china
AND THERE IS A GAME PLAN TO IT.
Chinese , shrewd as they are have realised WHAT IS GOOD FOR WEST OUGHT TO BE GOOD FOR CHINA.
AGRICULTURE will be be no longer as practiced in china for 5000 yrs.
IT WILL BE EXACTLY LIKE IN WEST , and that is ………..
INDUSTRIAL SCALE FARMING(Folks how many times I have been banging about this on this blog) [You just cannot become a surgeon ]
Thus all the surplus labour is moved to new cities.
PEASANTS are quite happy with this new life.
One girl who has taken up two jobs , one as a chef in a restaurant , other as a shop assistant , said it is much better now , WE DONT HAVE TO SOAK IN RAIN IN THE FIELDS.
MASSIVE SCHOOLS HAVE BEEN BUILT to satisfy the demand from these peasants who want their children to go a PROPER SCHOOL.
Now STUFF YOUR SWABHIMAAN UP YOUR ARSE , and do some hard thinking

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National security and Akhilesh and co ”””””””””””””

At least now, father and son have confessed openly to Ehteshyam’s militancy. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/my-son-held-my-feet-wept…-he-was-forced-into-militancy/920683/0

But Islamic jehad will burn on for another 5-10 years. We need to be ever vigilant- do I trust these jokers with my security- Mulayam, Akhilesh, Rahul, Mayawati…

or, dare I whisper it aloud, time to make Modi home minister ?

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—————————————————————————————————————————–
~~~ WHY AMAR SINGH DAHLA WAS GOOD FOR MULAYAM ~~~~
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Funny as it may sound, Amar Singh Dahla was the best thing which ever happened to the Samajwadi Party. He changed the outlook of the SP which was earlier depnedent on DP Yadav, Mukhtar ANsari and other criminals for funds thru extortion, crime, murder and kidnapping.

Amar Singh Dahla with his background as a liason officer of industrialists, opened a range of new possibilities of money making to the Samajwadis. that

a) That outright crime was passe and money could also be made by alloting choice land in areas surrounding Delhi especially

b) Important enough to create a number of crony capitalists to feed you all the time. So 2-3 big industrialists were allowed to flourish in UP and Reliance invited in/

Of course criminals still flourished but the SP realised that crony capitalists and land allotment were a better game. For this revelation they need to thank Amar Singh Dahla.

And of course for all the AFTER DINNER ENTERTAINMENT Amar singh arranged.
If you have heard his tapes you will be pleasently surprised to know that the TOP heroines of the Mumbai film industry were providing entertainement… and willing to bend to make people happy..

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From the HT website:
Uttarakhand CM BC Khanduri leads in Kotdwar
Salman Khurshid’s wife trailing from Farrukhabad
UP: BJP’s Uma Bharti leads in Charkhari
Ajit Singh’s son Jayant Chaudhary trails in Mathura
Cong candidate Amita Singh trails in Amethi

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okay, now Khanduri trails… looks like a fun battle to follow

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Prannoy Roy to Ashwini Kumar on NDTV- “Positive news for Congress- it is up from 21 last time to 31 this time”
Congratulations Yuvaraj! You made the difference!

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Interesting comment by Prannoy Roy:
“It is a really bad day for Congress- countrywide; and guess what? The sensex is up!”
Haha

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@ Vinod Sharma

Sir, we the humble bloggers at ur site would like to give a request. Can you please request Chotta Babaji, Digivashji and Salmanji to retire and start an ice cream parlour or std booth or a petrol pum instead?

Sir everytime they open their mouth they cause a lot of damage to the COngress and more impiortantly to the country, sir. Please sir, Bharat ke liye yeh request daal do…

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Well, this is the first time in Punjab’s history a ruling party/alliance is reelected.

Rajiv Shukla’s statement about Congress’ performance in the five states ..”We are not happy, but you cannot say it is a pathetic showing” —- well, that is why he is a politician and I am not!

I am truly surprised about SP performance. Well, as they say, a state gets the government it deserves.. let us see how they will meet the election promise of free computers, increased unemployment stipend….

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It looks like the bulk of Muslim votes have gone to SP in spite of all the wooing done by Salman Khurshid, his wife, Digryodhan Singh, Rahul, Priyanka, Robberji et al.

It also looks whatever Muslim support Behanji had, has deserted her relegating BSP to as Muslims say in UP “chamaron ki party”.

Obviously by demanding proportional reservation and promising 18% reservation, Maulyam must have brought in the bulk of Muslim votes. It will be interesting to see the voting pattern in the 230 or so seats where Muslims form 10% plus vote share.

Congress should take the result as an eye opener – Muslims are not toeing their line in big vote states – Bihar and UP. They have deserted Congress in Bihar for development, and in UP based on their calculation that Congress will not get any meaningful number of seats in UP.

With Muslim votes in UP and BIhar gone, may be Congress should spend next two years in focusing on growth and development programs benefiting all, as a true national party. May be that will help them in the next lok Sabha eelctions.

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WILL MULAYAM ALLOW THE RIGHT TO CHEAT IN EXAMS??
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One of the highpoints of MulayamSIngh Yadav’s earlier rule was the “right to cheat” for school and college students.

This was given when the voting age was lowered to 18 and college students needed to be wooed. An earlier Kalyan SIngh government had tried to get a degree of discipline in UP education by strictly rusticating students who were caught cheating in college and school examinations.

Mulayam, in keeping with his samajwadi image, came up with the revolutionary idea to allow cheating. And then, when he got power, implemented the revolution….

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Another funny part… which the channels dont report nor does HT.

The Congress is basically going to get only 30 seats !! Rest is with RLD.

Now Mr Vinod Sharma, can you eligten us why a party which get on 30/403= 7.5% seats get 92.5% election coverage !!

Maybe if VInod Sharma is maun, Prahlad can answer this/

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Aashish,

Thank vm for suggesting the places I should visit. I am not really sure whether
I will be able to manage. I leave my hotel around 9.30 in the morning and
coma back around 8.30 in the evening, don’t feel like going out after that. Just have a peg or two with few snacks and by 10-30-11.00 PM I am in the bed.
It gets really very tiring. Getting old yaar.
By the way I have been to Penang and Port Klang once and those were also
business trips, was visiting factories. For holiday I had visited Kota Kinabalu
once – it is about two hours by air from K L. – a beautiful place surrounded by few small islands. A very good place place for relaxing
Can I miss Genting ? Kya karoon, gambling is in my blood, let me give it a thought. I am with my partner here and he loves casinos more than me, though
I had introduced him to casino and taught him most of the games.
Thanks again for your suggestion.

Just had glance at election results, did not expect congress do such badly.

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Louis Khurshid, wife of Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid, loses from Farukkhabad Assembly seat where independent candidate Major Sunil Dutt Dwiwedi defeated BJP’s Vijay Singh by a slender margin of 147 votes.

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Chee chee, kitni “gandhi” baat…….

A few days every five years..
I love, love, love you..
Ain’t got nothing but love babe
A few days every five years…
(refrain)..
Ooh, I need your vote, babe
Guess you know it’s true
Hope you need my love, babe
Just like I need you

Vote me, vote me
Vote me, vote me
I ain’t got nothing but love, babe
A few days every five years

Season of vote

The season of vote is a curious thing
Make me weep, make Akhilesh sing
Change AjitSing to a little white dove
More than a feeling that’s the power of vote

Tougher than diamonds, rich like cream
Stronger and harder than Rita’s dream
Make Diggy good make Khurshid right
Power of vote that kept me awake last night

Chorus 1 :
We need money,we need fame
Reservation’s the gravy, come ride this train
We thought it’s strong, but it’s cruel sometimes
Anyway, voter, you just saved your life
That’s the power of vote
That’s the power of vote

First time in Bihar, it made me sad
This time in UP, it made me mad
But you’ll be glad baby when you’ve found
That’s the power makes the world go’round
with apologies to the Beatles and Huey Lewis

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Parkash in Punjab…Congress hat-trick in Manipur…and more updates click here for live result http://post.jagran.com/assembly-elections-2012-up-punjab-uttarakhand-manipur-goa-1326802257

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Uttarakhand is throwing up an interesting picture. BJP (32) and Congress (31) are neck and neck.
I am sure both have started courting winners from other parties (7). To me it looks like Congress will buy these 7 guys and form the govt.

UP really threw a surprise by giving clear majority to SP. It is good for SP but a very bad development for UP. BJP has performed below expectation and Congress has marginally improved its situation but the best part is that it will not be kingmaker. This should impact politics at centre as SP can be more assertive and Mamta can continue to bully congress.

SAD-BJP broke the record in punjab and are forming the govt. for second time. Great show..could have been better.

I think Goa has been a consolation prize for BJP. Good showing there. I hope communal christians in that state will drop their prejudices against BJP.

Manipur..Congress got a thumping majority. It is time for Congressis on this blog to celebrate. Where are they???

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Sad day for Indian polity. Would have preferred Rahul compared to Akhilesh anyday. wish India well from here and pray for its better health.

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One who has gold writes golden rules.

Akhilesh will write the golden rules for 2014 lok Sabha eelctions.!

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Pankaj,
I think for the first time in his entire career, Ajit Singh will stick to one party for more than a year. I thought if SP was short of majority, Ajit Singh would have switched sides but now it looks like he will stick to mother ship Congress.

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Dhawan and Co…Kahan ho Bhai…Rahulji ke Aansoo pochh rahe ho ya charan dho rahe ho..

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Within hours of winning SP goondas have started physically assaulting opposition and media in Jhansi, Agra and Firozabad. Who said SP will be any different under Akhilesh?

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~~~ A NEW AGENDA FOR UP FOR LOK SABHA 2014 ~~~
—————————————————————————————————————————-

Both the big national parties flopped in UP in this election. The Congress became a copy version of Samajwadi party and lost the election.

The BJP relied on “imported’ Uma Bharati, had no agenda and lost the plot.

Here is one way they can try to change their strategy and their chances

a) Both get clean fresh faces with education and a UP background and a non corrupt image.

b) Both come out with district wise plans for all districts of UP

c) Both renounce appealing to sectarian divides

d) Both parties reject dynasties as being against democracy

e) Most of all both of them talk about antional interest and how UP can be a leader in development and clean administration in NATIONAL interest.

Is there anybody out there willing to take this challenge????

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Missing Manohar.

M J Akbar says:

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/assembly-election-results-india-today-editor-verdict-m.j.-akbar/1/176689.html

Congress must become what it was, and what India wants, a party that is liberal and democratic, and this means that no one is entitled to permanent dynastic succession. India has changed. Congress has not.

Read on.

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Congress functioned very well ? Gandhis are still the main crowd pullers for the congress.

Give a little leeway, you have a Khurshid making mess of UP election.

But I think this is the way forward. Leaders other than Gandhis will make mistakes and then recalbrate.

But I do not see Congress really making headway without the help from Gandhis.

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D.hawan appears and my posts start to get deleted…something is wrong here.

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What a day.

Just desserts for the Congress Party – they really messed up the whole thing – the culprits – Rahul Gandhi, Digvijay Singh and Salman Khurshid. Looks they were working on a cross purposes and trying to reach out everyone by compartmentalizing sections of society in the process putting off all of them.

The most ridiculous statement came from Digvijay Singh – that Rajul Gandhi is not a Chief Ministerial material (as it has been suggested that he should have declared himself as a candidate), but Prime Ministerial material. Zenith of sycophancy.

Similarly, there is nothing to write home about the BJP – in fact their tally has come down. Confusion and disunity among the leaders itself must have been ‘the’ reason.

The most comic sight on the TV channels was the gloating by the Congress and the BJP spokespersons at the misfortunes of the other and papering over their own.

The lesson for these two ‘national’ (in my mind there is a doubt whether they are) parties from the UP results is that they are going to find more difficult to rustle up the numbers in the general elections (2014 or whenever*) to be able to form the Government at the centre, unless the SP really messes up its mandate – they have already started on the wrong foot (the return of the ‘goonda raj’ already witnessed in 4 places even before all the results were out). As usual, the police were mere spectators.

* Perhaps as early as October/November this year.

The two ‘national’ parties have to really get their act together. Knowing them, all we would see some cosmetic changes here and there and they will pretend everything hunky-dory.

More later on results in other states later.

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I think both BJP and Congress have stagnated in UP politics. The BJP’s vote share has come down to 14% from 18.5% and Congress has marginally recovered from 8.5% to 11.5%.

Both BJP and Congress have become marginal players in UP with no hope of any revival for at least two decades. The people of UP have been adopting Tamil Nadu Model for last 10 years but now they have decided to give majority to SP or BSP rather than fractured mandate. So now UP politics with be revolving door with the wheelchair.
BJP and Congress should now forget UP state politics and concentrate on getting 25 seats each in Lok Sabha election. The voters in UP have shown tendency to vote differently in Lok Sabha elections.

Lastly on the election results, I feel people of UP have made a huge mistake by giving Goonda SP comfortable majority. There have been reports of assaults on media and opposition by SP workers in Firozabad, Jhansi and Agra.

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Reactions from 4 players in UP.

BJP: We lost because of 4 cornered contest – Sushma Swaraj
My Comment: In many of the places you ended up 4th and on top of that you lost Ayodhya to muslim SP.

Congress: We lost because we don’t have org. structure in UP.
My Comment: But you said RahulG will get us UP on his own..

SP: No comments except for polite acceptance of victory.
My comments: Actions speak louder than words. SP workers are on rampage in various cities in UP. They have already killed 1 girl.

BSP: No comments..
My comment: Mayawati has lost her voice now. She should get ready for more interviews with CBI in coming days.

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—————————————————————————————————————————–
~~~ HOW CAN POLITCAL PARTIES flourish without dynasties and sycophancy ~~~
—————————————————————————————————————————-

How do republicans and Democrats, Conservatives and Labour, remain politcal parties which are not fan clubs of one family? How do they keep changin local candidates for each seat?

Gopi…

And others

ENLGHTEN ME PLEASEEE !

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Outsiders view

1. Despite such serious issues as a large number of corruption cases and the constant harping about dynasty – Congress increased their tally and share of the vote in UP.

2. Even though the BJP did not have any corruption cases against it, it has a clear Hinduatva agenda, yet it lost in UP the heart of Cow Belt. If BJP cannot win here, then where can they win?

3. In Punjab bulk of the credit goes to the Sikh Communal Party the Akali Dal. BJP seems to have had little more than a supporting role there. Sill well-done.

4. SPs win cannot be explained away by the Muslim Vote alone. Failures of Mayawati, Congress as well as the BJP contributed more.

5. Goa was a real surprise.

Back to the drawing board for the Congress and a major re-think for the BJP. The first may happen, the second will not.
.
Caution: I know people behave differently during National Elections than they do during State Elections. I am not sure that these results can form the basis of any reliable predictions for the National Elections.

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Engrich;
I see that many people have no objection to speaking with you, from the broad spectrum of opinions here. so why only I should act prudish. I can match you word for word. Now, are you still interested in hinduism or hindus? Do not say later, that you did not bargain for it. remain confined to social justice, communal politics or such relevant items, do not go where angels fear to tread.

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Manohar;
I read somewhere in your posts about Vasundhara Raje. what about her? how you feel about her or her politics. keen to know.

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—————————————————————————————————————————
~~~ WHY MY CONCEPT OF DYNASTY IS BEING MISUNDERSTOOD ?~~~
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When I say I am against the dynasties of Indian politics I mean the phenomenon where the parents twerp the rules of thier party, of the country, misuse the state machinery to launch their progeny.

Indira gandhi ws NOT dynasty for me. Nehru got her onto the forefront but did not anoint her successor, nor did he destroy dissent in the congress to launch her.
The Congress too chose her after Shastri’s death.

But her launching Sanjay by sideling all opposition to him in the party and also by destroying a national party like the Indian national Congress was dynasty. Her launching Rajiv after Sanjay’s death was dynasty. Sonia claiimimg presidentship of the COngress and then launching Rahul is dynasty.

Prahlad and Sanjay have already explained that Priyanka waits in the wing to raise the emotional quotont.

That is dynasty.

In contrast SP is a pvt limitd company of the Mulayam family from day one. They created it and they will run it like a family feifdom. WYSIWYG. So by my rule book it is not the destruction of a national movement like Congress has become.

The Badals are a dynasty because they have taken over the Akali dal which was a religious movement which did not have scope for dynastic takeover.

Vasundhra is not dynasty as she has not taken oer the BJP to launch herself or her bloodline.

Even Sachin Pilot is not dynasty for me as he came in after his father’s death.

But the Abdullahs’ have certainly become a dynasty for me– albiet a nationiistc one.

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6 March 2012For the first 54 years of India’s democracy Uttar Pradesh provided seven out of eight prime ministers, three from three generations of the same family.

The exception, Morarji Desai of Gujarat, proved the rule since he was betrayed and replaced in 1979 by a UP politician, Charan Singh, whose term lasted for a few fortunately forgotten months.

Betrayal played a part again when V.P. Singh followed Rajiv Gandhi into the chair, although this Singh at least used the electoral route to power, rather than manipulation of numbers in the Lok Sabha. V.P. Singh learnt that betrayal is a double-edged dagger when he was sidestepped by Chandra Shekhar Singh in 1990. Perhaps Parliament, and India, had had enough of UP politicians by then, for they disappeared from the top echelons of Delhi for a decade. But UP was back in business with the arrival of NDA, this time on best behaviour: Atal Behari Vajpayee, MP from Lucknow, turned out to be one of India’s best PMs.

However, an emerging fact was inescapable. UP, the state with the strongest political muscle had begun to punch below its self-designated weight at the national level. After 2004, the Congress, which should have been grateful that it sent both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi to Parliament, began to punish UP for the temerity of electing other parties to the Lucknow legislature. Congress philosophy can be best summed up in the words of a Frank Sinatra song that Rahul Gandhi certainly knows but cannot afford to sing in public: My way, or the highway. In effect, this has been the theme of his current campaign too; only Congress, with its lock on the Centre’s resources, can bring development to UP. UP representation in the Cabinet in the two UPA administrations has been a sparse set of token figures with portfolios as vague as their CVs. The cynical compulsions of election-eve gesture-politics have brought in Beni Prasad Verma and Ajit Singh, but their tenure will be determined by their performance in the UP polls. If they turn out to be duds, they return to the highway.

The UP electorate has a peculiar challenge in the 2012 Assembly election. It is expected not only to stabilise Lucknow, but also Delhi. Every voter knows that the ripple, or wave, that builds in Lucknow will travel upstream to Delhi. The complications begin. If UP has four claimants to power, then Delhi has at least three uneasy partners in what might be called Prime Ministerial space. [Some would include Pranab Mukherjee and make that four] Dr Manmohan Singh can never be certain how much of that space he actually controls despite being in office. His existential problem is that he now represents the immediate past of Congress rather than its immediate future. Even a debacle in UP will not deter Congress from anointing Rahul Gandhi as its standard-bearer for 2014, or whenever national polls are held next. If Congress does well in UP the clamour for transition will upgrade into an unmanageable uproar. It could become almost embarrassing for the PM to continue. The only question, therefore, is not if but when Dr Singh will step down.

But Rahul Gandhi is not seeking to replace his mother; he wants to replace both his mother and the PM. If he is showing some diffidence now it is only because of a lack of confidence. The UP

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Viju

Here is my understanding of the US elections system-

Parties (chairmen, state presidents etc) form state rules, national rules as to how their candidates will be selected for MLA (state assembly member), MP (house member, senator), Governor, President etc.

For example, in a state, say California, five or ten (or more) people will contest in the “primary” election to be a party’s nominee for a senate seat. The registered party members will vote as to who should be their nominee; and the winner will fight against the other party’s primary winner to contest the final election.

I understand there may be slight variation across states, such as cross party voting etc in the primary process. But essentially each party’s registered members select their nominee through a voting process..

However any body can vote for any candidate in the final election.

So, the only way a dynasty could be formed is if the son or daughter or wife can compete in the primary and win. Even if they win, they have to contest in the primary against other candidates from the party in the next elelction.

Party authorities by themselves cannot nominate any candidate — unlike Congress selecting its candidates or BJP selecting its candidates.

May be US based people like Rjeev and Binoy can elaborate further.

[Reply]

उत्तर प्रदेश के मुसलमानों ने कांग्रेस के ‘आरक्षण कार्ड’ को खास तवज्जो नहीं दी है। उन्होंने एक बार फिर मुलायम सिंह यादव के प्रति भरोसा जताया है। हालांकि यूपी के चुनाव नतीजों को मुसलमानों की राजनीतिक जीत के रूप में देखा जा रहा है, लेकिन चुनाव में मुसलिम नेतृत्व हाशिये पर आ गया है।

उप्र में चुनाव की दस्तक के साथ ही मुसलिम आरक्षण पर सियासत शुरूहो गई थी। कांग्रेस ने इसकी पहल करते हुए अल्पसंख्यकों को 4.5 प्रतिशत आरक्षण देने की घोषणा की। बाटला हाउस एनकाउंटर को फर्जी बताकर पार्टी महासचिव दिग्विजय सिंह मुसलमानों को खुश करने का प्रयास करते रहे। लेकिन राज्य के मुसलमानों ने कांग्रेस पर विश्वास न करते हुए मुलायम पर यकीन जताया।

वर्ष 2007 के चुनाव में सपा को कल्याण सिंह से दोस्ती की बड़ी कीमत चुकानी पड़ी थी। इसके चलते मुसलमानों ने पार्टी के खिलाफ वोट किया था। बहरहाल, इस नाराजगी को भांपते हुए मुलायम ने फौरन इसके लिए माफी मांगी और मुसलिमों का भरोसा फिर पाने में कामयाब रहे। चुनाव में सपा सुप्रीमो ने पूरी चतुराई के साथ मुसलिम नेताओं को साधा। उनकी कोशिश रही कि इन नेताओं को सिर्फ इतना ‘मैनेज’ किया जाए कि वो पार्टी के खिलाफ बयान न दें।

इस कड़ी में पार्टी ने शाही इमाम अहमद बुखारी के साथ प्रेस कांफ्रेंस तो की, लेकिन उनके साथ कोई जनसभा करने से इंकार कर दिया। शाही इमाम के दामाद उमर खां को बेहट से टिकट देकर उन्होंने अहमद के हाथ बांध दिए। यह बात दीगर है कि उमर चुनाव हार गए । बहरहाल, इससे साफ जाहिर है कि शाही इमाम राज्य में पूरी तरह बेअसर साबित हुए हैं और मुलायम की साख पर ही मुसलिमों ने एकजुट होकर सपा का समर्थन किया है।

[Reply]

I was missing Manish Tewari last night on TV; now I do not, anymore. Thanks Ravi for articulating the hitchhiker’s guide to election results for us.
Ravi, you are so out of touch, and so out of synch (40 years??).
My sympathies- your declining years do not seem to be kind on your reasoning faculties.

[Reply]

1) The results of the assembly elections have some grave lessons for the largest parties (I am a bit loathe to call them national anymore). As I said, it was a pathetic spectacle that the two were gloating at the misfortunes of the other and papering over their own. The BJP must also be rubbing its hands in glee at the discomfort of the UPA for the rest of the latter’s term, forgetting the fact that it may have to face the music if it comes to power the next time around – regional allies are going to be as ruthless in dealing with the BJP.

Are we seeing scenarios in future that these two parties currently with critical mass will become bit players at the national level with regional satraps doing all the back-seat driving (it is already happening with the UPA)?

Time for both the parties to seriously introspect and bring about real changes. Their time starts in the next half an hour or so.

As for governance now, bad news. We can say bye-bye to reforms and other legislation at least until after the next general elections. This Government is going to limp along till then.

2) Mayawati was bound to lose. Apart from governance (whether good or bad), the other main factor was making herself totally inaccessible to the rest of the world – no interacting with her support base except during elections and ‘happy’ birthday celebrations (may be she wanted them to have a darshan only via her statues for the rest of time), no press conferences – only monologues to say what she wanted to, no building bridges and keeping communication channels open with other parties forgetting the fact in politics there are no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests. In short, this was height of arrogance and megalomania. May be she has always dreamed that she can become the Prime Minister on her own steam and terms – everybody else be damned.

3) What happens to one-personality parties like the AIDMK, TMC and BSP after the all-in-one leaders have gone, as no one knows their second-rung leaders, if there are any in the first place?

4) Newspapers are reporting B C Khanduri’s losing his own seat was an inside job.

[Reply]

http://ca.mc1147.mail.yahoo.com/mc/welcome?.gx=1&.tm=1331091576&.rand=aafafbgok429t#_pg=showMessage&sMid=2&&filterBy=&.rand=900613923&midIndex=2&mid=1_2584148_AJK3iGIAAESnT1a91wcZD1JeU7I&fromId=adilhossain43@yahoo.in&m=1_2582687_AI23iGIAACJ5T1a9dAxHG2LRDRc,1_2585361_AIm3iGIAAXiRT1a%2B7AX9ZmsotEk,1_2584148_AJK3iGIAAESnT1a91wcZD1JeU7I,1_2580443_AJK3iGIAAHAnT1ZdHwljEToQNH4,1_2565794_AI23iGIAAOpvT1YEuAW2tE8GsaU,1_2564653_AIy3iGIAAURnT1X%2B4gHmvhzGZkg,1_2560424_AJG3iGIAARe2T1XafQ63hm9BhZE,1_2555939_AIS3iGIAALOyT1WwwgrFV3mN0bE,&sort=date&order=down&startMid=0&hash=cd961d332ae320358a7097c1032765b1&.jsrand=5126544

ravi bhai and mohan-t,omething interesting foe u .

[Reply]

They just didn’t get it
Shekhar Gupta

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/they-just-didnt-get-it/921063/0

India has changed. It will vote for those who understand, respect and embrace this change with humility, not hubris

Excerpts

Further, the two parties that won these clear verdicts (BSP in 2007 and SP now) would normally be described (and dismissed) as mere caste-based parties with limited identity-driven agendas and inelastic appeal. They are bitter rivals. But in devastating both Congress and BJP, they have shown a political genius that the larger national parties have lacked. But would these two successive clear verdicts have been possible if UP had not changed? The answer has to be no, and for a long time there hasn’t been better news for India. It also follows that while the voter in UP has changed, breaking out of the horrible Mandal-Kamandal trap, the two national parties have stayed right there. They are being made to pay for this lack of imagination, this intellectual laziness.

———

You want to stereotype the Hindu majority, ask the BJP, so deflated after today’s result. It thought Congress had answered its prayers by playing that suicidal Muslim reservation card and brought out vicious advertisements reminding Hindus that their jobs were being taken away and given to Muslims by way of an electoral bribe.

———-

Read on.

[Reply]

To me the most succinct summing up of the election from the BJP point of view was done by Sudheendra Kulkarni.
There is a strong anti-Congress mood in the country, he said, but went on to say that BJP needs to introspect why it failed to benefit as it was the principal opposition party.
This is perhaps what Gopi, Vijay and I have been saying in this forum all along- we would love for BJP to do well- but, BJP proves unequal to the task everytime.
UP is a special case- it sends a lot of MPs to parliament. BJP should identify hardworking leaders with local connect who are prepared to spend the next 2 years doing what Akhilesh Yadav did for the last 2 years.
Much as I deride Rahul Gandhi and I was always publicly dismissive of the Congress chances in UP, you have to admit that Rahul’s basic idea is correct. You need to spend quality time at the ground level in order to be taken seriously. Where Rahul faltered and the deluded Diggy continues to mislead him, is that he did not anchor the hard work by offering himself as a CM candidate.
If he had done so, the Congress challenge would have been much stronger.
Nitish Kumar, unwittingly had said as much- he challenged Rahul to aspire to a CM’s job first. Sadly, for Congress, only its enemies seem to be able to offer sound advice these days.

[Reply]

Ashish seemed to have changed Never knew he had such a great sense of humour.
You are as good as the regulars like Shenoy Mohan and Vijay.

From sir to clanky lad. From a youngster to an old man. Do people in Delhi age so
fast.
Mohan sometime your jokes are too A class. would you mind toning those down a bit.

[Reply]

Correct definition of hindu religion was told in a very nice way
by Pankaj and Mohan which as expected you did not understood
. As I had told you earlier you require a brain to understand that,
First try to understand the Real Beautiful religion Islam which does
not belieive

[Reply]

Correct definition of hindusim was told to you in a very nice way by pankaj and mohan which as expected you failed to understand. you need a brian for that. First try to understand the Real Beautiful religion Islam which does not belive
in killing infidels, belivies in live and let live and which definitely does
not abuse anybodys mothers.

[Reply]

Got to leave for Gurgaon now. Saala pet ka sawaal hai. First Greater Noida, now Delhi, now Gurgaon. Anyway to all the Haryana lovers, here is food for thought.

Some newspaper… was it TOI? That credited NARENDRA MODI for the Akali victory.

On how Modi lectured Sukhbir Badal to focus on development and how in the last 2 yrs Badal totally changed and won over the people of Punjab from an impossible position.

Happy debating.

Will it be Modi Modi rape rape when I hit the net four hours later?

[Reply]

Typed two messages by anerror. Both were addressed to my dear engrich.

[Reply]

Sachin is a very good player, no doubt about that, but he was not a good captain. A good player necessarily cannot become a good captain also.

[Reply]

Aashsih,

Not really sure whether I will be able to visit the places which you had suggested.
Tonight and Tommorrow I have been invited by my suppliers for dinner. Cannot
refuse them – Business to karna hai -. Next time will plan differently. Thanks and
appreciate your suggestions.
Ishawar – The joke regarding age of Akhilesh and Rahul Gandhi was really hillarious.

Mr/Ms. Sonam – You are amount adults, just accept that fact. I am not going
to change to please you.

Here is specially for you ————————-

Heard a lady whose hasband had taken an overdose of viagra, talking to her friend
” I can’t even yawn in front of my husband ”

Vijay- I hope I have not lost the touch.

[Reply]

I missed most of the fun when election results were comming out.
Before we move on to different subject, let me put my thoughts on this subject.

Performance of Congress was very bad.
On second thought did congress perform ?
Why do we never have third or fourth thought, why do we stop at second thought
always. Do we stop thinking after the second thought.

On third thought – Impotents cannot perform

This congress party with people like Digdryodhan – Gopiji has given him a good name- Salman Khursheed, Manish Tiwari etc has become impotent.

[Reply]

Mrs Gandhi says congress lost in UP because of “too many leaders” ….. when will she learn??

Also, I believe newspapers like HT should not always say “Dalit Queen Mayawati” .. say UP CM dislodged or UP Queen dislodged

[Reply]

Management, the Gandhian way

http://www.thehindu.com/education/article2865444.ece

Excerpts

The curricula of the new IIMs are being oriented towards facing this kind of business. The best way to package the curriculum is to base it on Gandhian leadership and not on the Western leadership models.

———–

He is involving many Indian experts from various fields, even unusual ones like Buddhism and Vedic management, for bringing in changes in the curriculum. He is confident of making a mark in five years, when nearly 30 per cent of the study material will be developed indigenously.

[Reply]

Pankaj

You wrote earlier.

Manohar;
I read somewhere in your posts about Vasundhara Raje. what about her? how you feel about her or her politics. keen to know.

So here goes.

——–

Sometimes one needs out-of-the-box solution(s) to go ahead of the competition. It looks like that the BJP has been bumbling along for the last several years and whenever opportunities have come its way, it has not been able to capitalize and take full advantage.

Gopi’s lament ‘The BJP works overtime to lose elections’ and Ashish’s ‘This is perhaps what Gopi, Vijay and I have been saying in this forum all along- we would love for BJP to do well- but, BJP proves unequal to the task every time”. The leadership for the last several years have been found wanting, so they have to make way.

Hence, the need for the BJP to reinvent itself. IMO, Vasundhara Raje Scindia, could be the fulcrum in Operation 2014. She should be declared as the Prime Ministerial candidate and separate war-room (if you like) be set up and give her a free hand to choose her team / advisers, the party must provide the funds and back-up as required. She can extensively cover the whole country to build up and sustain the momentum and start stitching alliances. One of the advantages she has that she is not seen as carrying the RSS baggage.

IMO and definitely to the chagrin of Modi fans and supporters, he is not the person for the above – he has become too controversial for the above. The BJP will have to carry along a number of regional parties / allies and voters of all hues and colours and not all of them would be/are well disposed towards the Gujarat Chief Minister.

The BJP has to start making full use of leaders like her and other leaders like Manohar Parrikar – the Chief Minister designate of Goa.

————–

Is it possible for the BJP to embark on the above course? Sounds like imagination gone wild. What do you and others think?

[Reply]

Mayawati’s analysis of the UP results is spot-on:

“The Congress announcing reservation to backward Muslims led to BJP wooing backwards and upper castes forcefully which caused fear among the Muslims that it (BJP) could return to power in UP and almost 70 per cent of them voted in favour of the Samajwadi Party,” the BSP supremo said.

BJP leaders must have seen this as well during the campaign – they couldn’t come up with an answer to it.

[Reply]

Watch, Congress will sideline Rahul slowly and project Priyanka as the “Durga” to save India.. She has Indira Gandhi’s looks; will be able to get a lot of votes in UP in Lok Sabha elections

Robberji will be the 10% behind her as Zardari was with mrs Bhutto…

[Reply]

A wonderful article on dynasty and demise of dynasty. Must read-

The dynasty is over go on Rahul get a real life
http://www.firstpost.com/politics/the-dynasty-is-over-go-on-rahul-get-a-real-life-237138.html/2

[Reply]

The BJP in Uttarakhand is staking the claim to form the govt. They clearly have less MLAs compared to Congress and I think it is ethically wrong for BJP to do so. These are the kinds of actions that go against BJP. If they are party with difference, they should behave in that manner also.

The congress being biggest party should be called to form the govt. I have no love lost for Congress but democracy is supreme and fair play should be the foundation of such a democracy.

[Reply]

Solar storm headed toward Earth may disrupt power grids, flights

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/Solar-storm-headed-toward-Earth-may-disrupt-power-grids-flights/articleshow/12178795.cms

An impressive solar flare is heading toward Earth and could disrupt power grids, satellite navigating systems and airplane flights.

—————
Read on

[Reply]

@ Rajeev

Just back home from a late drive and diving into bed. I could not locate the article on the demise of the dynasty,

Anyway… Rahul Gandhi played his cards alll wrong. In case he had just talked about development, Hi-tech, India becoming no1 in the world, computers… he would have swept the country.

Now he has got into the chungal of Slaman and Digvinash.

And ended like the pale version of the SP. Talking about caste and religious reservations.

We still need the big vision guy to fire the dreams of the country. Which party gets this guy… well that will win 2014

[Reply]

‘Executed prisoners main source of organs in China’

http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/China/Executed-prisoners-main-source-of-organs-in-China/Article1-822271.aspx

Excerpt

China has long vowed to reduce its reliance on death-row inmates for organs, but high demand and a chronic shortage of donations meant they remained a key source, the Legal Daily quoted Vice Health Minister Huang Jiefu as saying.

———–
Read on

[Reply]

Mishra family celebrates””””””””””

Well kind of. In fact I am a bit bemused. Not a great fan of Mulayam but a distant nephew of mine Abhishek Mishra, who I am sure none of you have heard of, has actually won the election from UP on a SP ticket.

So after Brahm Dutt in the eightees, our family which never had a great presence in UP politics is once again in the govt. Can you believe it- a brahmin is one of Akhilesh’s closest advisors.

And before anyone thinks Abhi Mishra is bent, let me surprise you by informing you he is ex faculty IIM !! He’s a good lad, if allowed to, if given the freedom to, can turn UP around. My son is a medical graduate from Cambridge and is quite fond of Abhi who spent some time in Cambridge as well

[Reply]

All;
South West Asian group responsible for attack on Israeli embassy official Car. HT.
This was assisted by many local persons who procured all the wherewithal to carry out this attack.
No, Congress did not arrange all those things, but the statements like Batala House encounter was fake, certainly emboldened the terrorists. Shame on Diggy and his ilk.

[Reply]

march/april is kerala temple festivals, with decked elephats, great ‘pancha vadyam (five instruments) music….
here isa sample musichttp://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oG7lNoBFhP0FwAIuVXNyoA?p=ettumanoor+siva+temple+festival+video&fr=b1ie7&fr2=sb-top&xargs=0&pstart=1&b=41&xa=trwFwA8EQBGmw_XPuT.uig–,1331254760

[Reply]

oops

http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oG7lNoBFhP0FwAIuVXNyoA?p=ettumanoor+siva+temple+festival+video&fr=b1ie7&fr2=sb-top&xargs=0&pstart=1&b=41&xa=trwFwA8EQBGmw_XPuT.uig–,1331254760

[Reply]

oops

here is the “panch vadya” five instruments temple instrumental music — coomon during march/april

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8HKCih63Zw

[Reply]

balwinder jee,mishra jee and pankaj,ravi bhai,mohan.

10 Facts About Godhra

1 NINE BJP men claimed to be eyewitnesses and named 41 Muslims responsible for the carnage. In 2007, TEHELKA caught two of them admitting on camera that they were actually at home at the time of the incident and gave fabricated statements to “serve the cause of Hindutva”.

2 TEA VENDOR Ajay Baria was made part of the plot to support the prosecution’s case. In 2007, his mother told TEHELKA he was coerced into becoming a police witness.

3 PETROL PUMP attendants Ranjitsinh and Prabhatsinh Patel, who claimed that they had sold 140 litres of fuel to a few Muslim accused on 26 February 2002, had first told the police they hadn’t sold any loose petrol, but changed their tune six months later. TEHELKA caught Ranjitsinh admitting on camera that they had been paid Rs 1 lakh each by police officer Noel Parmar for naming the accused.

4 PETTY CRIMINAL Sikandar Siddique, who was a star prosecution witness, had claimed that two Muslim religious leaders, Maulvi Umarji and Maulvi Punjabi, were behind the incident. But it later emerged that Punjabi was not even in the country that day.

5 ON 11 JULY 2002, while re-examining the S6 coach of the Sabarmati Express, the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) concluded that the vestibule door had been forcibly opened and had got jammed. But when Judge PR Patel carried out an inspection on 30 May 2010, he found the door was not jammed. This shows that either there was some post-facto tampering of evidence or the forensic report was doctored.

6 SEVERAL EYEWITNESSES told the court that there was a fight between kar sevaks and Muslim tea vendors on the platform. The eruption of a spontaneous fight indicates that the episode was the result of a spontaneous communal conflagration.

7 SOME KAR SEVAKS had allegedly tried to abduct a Muslim girl and another burqa-clad woman. The attempts, which had further infuriated the Muslim mob, lends more weight to the theory of a spontaneous riot.

8 THERE WAS nothing to show that on or before 26 February 2002, there was any friction between kar sevaks and Godhra Muslims grave enough to provoke a planned carnage.

9 ON 3 MARCH 2002, the state government invoked POTA and the Godhra case morphed into an act of terrorism. But since mob fury could not pass muster as terrorism, on 9 March, the police invoked Section 120(b) of the IPC, which pertains to criminal conspiracy.

10 OF THE EIGHT influential Muslim political figures arraigned by the police, the trial court convicted just two while as many as 63 were acquitted last February.

Related Story

[Reply]

Get real

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/get-real/921382/0

Excerpt

When asked if it was a lack of leadership that undid the party, Gandhi smiled and said the problem was “too many leaders”. Even in jest, that remark was unwise. It was of a piece with the rest of her bland nothings about candidate selection and preparing better next time, and her refusal to own up to the party’s fundamental failure in nurturing a democratic organisation. Long dominated by a single bloodline, the Congress has few leaders of consequence in the states. Instead of solid, rooted regional leaders, it has concentric circles of courtiers, or others that it manages to steal away from other parties, in anticipation of an election. Lacking a real organisation, it also lacks a feedback loop, and so its candidate selection is inevitably shoddy, its reading of the electorate remains superficial — as Rahul Gandhi may have learnt this time. Nothing illustrates this better than the fact that when Rahul stepped out to speak on the verdict on Tuesday, there was no other Congress leader in the frame to either his right or left.

————

Read on.

[Reply]

ISHWAR,PANKAJ,

10 Indictments Of Narendra Modi

1 JUNE 2002 The then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee reminded Narendra Modi in a letter to follow “raj dharma”. Vajpayee observed that there was “gross under-assessment of damages” to riot victims.

2 SEPTEMBER 2003 Hearing the infamous Best Bakery case, in which 14 people were burnt, the then Chief Justice VN Khare remarked, “I have no faith left in the prosecution and the Gujarat government. You have to protect people and punish the guilty. What else is raj dharma?”

3 APRIL 2004 In a damning observation on the Modi government, Justice (retd) Arijit Pasayat remarked: “The modern-day Neros were looking elsewhere when innocent children and helpless women were being burnt and were probably deliberating how the perpetrators can be saved.”

4 FEBRUARY 2006 On orders of the SC, the Gujarat HC reopened 1,594 post-Godhra riot cases and action was initiated against 41 police officers. By June 2006, over 2,000 cases were reopened.

5 OCTOBER 2007 A six-month-long investigation by TEHELKA exposed Modi’s complicity in the riots. Several rioters, senior Sangh Parivar functionaries and the state government’s special prosecutor were caught on camera revealing in detail the role played by Modi in the carnage.

6 MAY 2010 The SIT submitted a report finding Modi guilty on many counts: a communal mindset, inflammatory speeches, destruction of crucial records, appointment of Sangh Parivar members as public prosecutors, illegal positioning of ministers in police control rooms during the riots, and persecution of neutral officers.

7 JULY 2011 Amicus Curiae Raju Ramachandran recommended that Modi should be prosecuted under Sections 153A, 153B, 166 and 505 of the Indian Penal Code.

8 SEPTEMBER 2011 The SC ordered that the complaints of late Congress MP Ehsan Jafri’s wife Zakia and Citizens for Justice and Peace against Modi would be heard by a magistrate in Gujarat.

9 JANUARY 2012 Justice VM Sahai of the Gujarat HC upheld the appointment of the Lokayukta by Governor Kamala Beniwal against Modi’s wishes. Justice Sahai’s order read: “The pranks of the chief minister demonstrate the deconstruction of our democracy.”

10 FEBRUARY 2012 The Gujarat HC remarked, “The fact that the riots continued for several days itself suggests lack of appropriate action or adequate action, if not inaction, on the part of the state in handling the situation

[Reply]

Day after verdict, Rly minister says mid-term polls could come sooner rather than later

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/day-after-verdict-rly-minister-says-midterm-polls-could-come-sooner-rather-than-later/921491/0

Excerpt

Speaking at Idea Exchange at The Indian Express, Trivedi said that after yesterday’s verdict, the Samajwadi Party and even the Trinamool Congress would want to see a mid-term poll so that they “can increase their tally” in Parliament.

[Reply]

India may never be a super power: LSE study
Hasan Suroor

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article2969252.ece

Excerpts

Despite India’s “impressive” rise, its ambition to be a super power may remain just that—an ambition, according to an authoritative new study by the London School of Economics to which several Indian scholars have contributed.

——–

The study, India: the Next Superpower? acknowledges India’s “formidable achievements” in fostering democracy, growth and cultural dynamism but concludes that these are nullified by its structural weaknesses, widespread corruption, poor leadership, extreme social divisions, religious extremism and internal security threats.

–

[Reply]

Gopi, Shoeb,

you have always been writing about the driving away of Tambrams (Tamilian Brahmins) from Tamilnadu by the Dravidian politics.

This week, three Ko-bra’s (Konkanastha Brahmins) are in the news, nationally.

Digambar Kamath badly lost Goa for the congress party.
Manohar Parikkar had a huge victory for the BJP, getting full support from the Roman Catholic community. It is a different matter that the Rom-cats were all erstwhile Kobra’s before the advent of the Portuguese.

The third is the high-flying Vijay Mallya. All his planes have been grounded.

[Reply]

ASHISH DHAWAN JEE ,RAVI BHAI AND AALOKE.

10 Ways The Judiciary Slipped Up

1 THE SC should have issued suo moto notice to the government after the NHRC’s 2002 report, which had observed that “a serious failure of intelligence and action marked the events leading to the Godhra tragedy and the subsequent deaths and destruction”.

2 IN 2002, the SC should have transferred 10 major cases to the CBI or to some other independent agency. Even though the apex court ordered these cases to be fast-tracked, it ruled out the transfer of cases.

3 THE SC ordered the reopening of 2,000-odd cases, which were closed by the police without proper probes. But the apex court didn’t closely follow up on the reopened cases as a result of which most of them were again closed without meeting the ends of justice.

4 EITHER THE Gujarat HC or the SC should have taken cognizance of call records submitted by police officer Rahul Sharma in 2004. These exposed the administration’s dereliction of duty and subversion of the Gulberg Society and Naroda Patiya massacre cases.

5 IN THE wake of the TEHELKA exposé of state complicity in the riots, Zakia Jafri and the CJP filed an application before the HC asking for verification of the authenticity of the tapes. The court dismissed the application. The SC too failed to take a firm stand and didn’t pass any order. It was finally left to the NHRC to order a CBI inquiry.

6 AFTER STAYING the trials in nine cases in November 2003, the SC allowed the petitions to drag on for the next five years. It was only in March 2008 that it constituted an SIT and ordered reinvestigation.

7 THE APEX COURT enlisted Gujarat cadre cops into the SIT and in a way re-entrusted the probe into the hands of the state police, which was reporting directly to the Modi government and was accused of subverting of justice.

8 THE SC chose a retired CBI director as the head of the SIT, who visited Gujarat not more than once or twice a month and kept himself at an arm’s length from the field investigations. The SC could have instead chosen retired judges to monitor the probe.

9 THE SC first expressed displeasure with the SIT’s report on Modi and made Amicus Curiae Raju Ramachandran carry out an independent exercise of assessing the material collected by the SIT and submit a report. But in a wishy-washy order passed last September, the SC left it to the discretion of the SIT whether it would like to produce the amicus report before the magistrate.

10 THERE WERE several petitions filed before the Gujarat HC and the SC praying for an investigation into the mass graves discovered in more than a dozen places across Gujarat. Both the courts turned down the prayer

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Anna Hazare had no role to play in UP elections: Hegde

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Anna-Hazare-had-no-role-to-play-in-UP-elections-Hegde/921244/

Excerpt

A former Supreme Court Judge, he expressed the view that “governance does not seem to be an issue at all (in Uttar Pradesh”, indicating that the Mulayam Singh Yadav won the polls for reasons other than issues of corruption and governance.

“They (people) have seen SP for ten years. SP never gave a good government”, he said, also referring to media reports of some “law and order problems” immediately after SP swept to power.

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Candidates with criminal records bite the dust in UP polls

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_candidates-with-criminal-records-bite-the-dust-in-up-polls_1659620

Excerpt

Prominent among those with criminal records who were vanquished in the polls are DP Yadav, Atiq Ahmad, Brajesh Singh, Abhay Singh, Madan Bhaiyya and Munna Bajrangi.

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seems Engrich had a double dose of Holi Bhang

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Happy Holi…..

Playing Rang Barse from Silsila while enjoying Puas, Kachoris and Gujiyas.

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Rizzie baby would like to wish all a very HAPPY HOLI esp the tennis player from Noida Vijay. Dude u dont have to tell me, I am sure you got stoned!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now lets resume our fight – Columbus vs DPS- FIRST ROUND TO YOU MAN- that bit about Salman Khurshid really hurt. What a total idiot, Cant believe a Dipsite turned out so fricking dumb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! vote key liyey saala kuch bhi karega.

But you why why DPS rocks- Shayama Chona. What a lady – our princie for years- make her India’s PM and we will rock. At our school we just did not get rote education, Chona maam ensured a lot of poor students entered on scholarships, she made sure all of us were grounded. My abba jaan introduced her to Sonia Gandhi a long time ago, they are very close now. after my Dad, Dr Chona is the biggest inspiration in my life
she also had abs zero tolerance for caste or religious bs in school. many of the idiots who INFEST this blog would have had their royal asses kicked by her big time. i know i am beginning to sound boring but she was just awesome
so round 2,3,4 to 40 to me
Happy holi again all

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It is almost one full day since the fake Sanjay Dhawan urf Prahlad urf Prabhat urf VS has posted/commented on this blog.

I wonder what is stopping him. Is he busy in the censor department?

So many inconvenient posts are being scissored.

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@ Gopi

Now that many of our states have been hijacked by parties hich are single family pvt enterprises and the COngress is now currently a Gandhi parviar pvt ltd…. are we going back in history to a period of fuedalism where new family kingdoms of a politcal kind are being created?

I am still absorbing your post on selection of candidates for various MLA and Lok Sabha Seats. What about indiependents?

In case we replicate this in India… we will surely usher in a form of true democracy. However we would require true district and zonal level offices of the parties for this.

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New York Times assessment on the elections:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/07/world/asia/indian-national-congress-party-defeated-in-elections.html

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—————————————————————————————————————————–
~~~ INDIA OF TODAY IS DIFFERENT FROM INDIRA’S INDIA ~~~~
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When Indira Gandhi won her vast majorities, India was a different country. We had low literacy– probably around 40%, women were tied to their houses under conservative rules, TV hardly existed– not even DD, and there was this brave modern woman who could talk aboout Harijans and poor, had the guts to take on the male syndicate and like a Durga had decimated Pakistan into pieces…

When she came in –the fondness for nehru name got her popularity. When she was killed– the sympathy was still with her– for having lost her life for a secular ideal.

But today to sell Priyanka on the same lines is not easy.

The Janata wants leaders who can debate on issues on 24/7 channels. Priyanka a nice charming girl and probably nice at heart may not still have the issues on her fiinger tips. Can she face the channels the way say jaitley, Akhilesh, Badal, Vasundhara, Sita ram yechury do ? Mind you these are her likely rivals.

She has no agenda to sell to women the way Indira did. Precisely because Indian women have come a long way since 1971. And women leaders like Mayawati, mamta and jaya have their own popularity amongst women.

Neither will harijans migrate to her the way they did to Indira. When Indira spoke about them, only jagjivan Ram — from her own party had a visible pro Harijan agenda. Indira was taking on Charan SIngh who had a small UP centric pro Jat agenda.

Now today the word harijan has gone out of popular vocabulary and Dalit is in. And all parties starting from mayawati have Dalit faces.

So for the Congress to dream about getting Priyanka in is stupid. let that girl have her life.

IN MY EYES PRIYANAKA WOULD BECOME A TRUE ICON IF SHE SAYS THAT IT IS NOT RIGHT TO CLAIM A POSTION BASED ON DYNASTIC SUCCESSION.

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Some really really depressing statistics reflecting the decline of American Dream.
(I was tempted to say American Decline but then corrected myself).
Read on at :
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/35-shocking-statistics-that-prove-that-things-have-gotten-worse-in-america
Notice the story of Oracle developer Greene.
Just to put things in perspective – two mega structural events on the horizon (Dollar deflation and Eurozone blow-up) are yet to hit fully.
Oh , and BTW, we are hit too . In case we missed the latest growth statistics.

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@mahesh , I had written in some detail about a BBC documentary on the current poverty in USA. I think Binoy endorsed most of it. But as I mentioned in that post POVERTY in American dictionary is not the same as in india.Most are OBESE, they get food coupons , all have CAR and LCD tv , but they dont have proper housing and NO HEALTH CARE unless you are about to die.
The American problem has to do with IRAQ and AFGHAN wars, and CHINA.
in 1990 , UK economy was 35 times that of china , now chinese economy is FIVE times that of UK.
Now how does china do it. This geezer Surjit Bhalla who blabbers a load of **** about the chinese economy need to read this post.
yesterday there was a programme in Chanel 4 , called MADE IN CHINA
And yesterday , the penny dropped , I understood for the first time how china did it , and India WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO CATCH UP.
First the wage , it was a JEANS making factory , it is 10 pounds /day , that makes it arouns 2300 Rs / month. It is impossible to get labour at wage in India. A maid earns 2000 Rs /month in calcutta from working at four households.(IN UK MINIMUM WAGE ENFORCABLE BY LAW IS 5.45/HR)
A primary school teacher gets 5000Rs.
Yuan is a FIXED currency , hugely undervalued, unlike Rs which is a floating currency.
Overhead costs are less in China (NO ELECTRICITY THEFT WHICH IS 50% in DELHI)
But the bottom line line is EFFICIENCY. The factories are huge maked 10 MILLION PAIR OF JEANS. Every worker is provided with a flat (Which looked better than Tata offers to employeesat Tata Steel). There is a factory canteen which provides FREE lunch.Every thing is done in a seamless manner.BUT ALL THEMACHINES ARE FOREIGN , like BROTHER , JUNA etc.
There is no SPECIAL ATTRIBUTE, or perhaps there is , and that is ORDER ORDER ORDER. Which allows them to GUARANTEE supply at specific time at specific prices , AND THAT IS ALL THE MULTINATIONAL GIANTS ARE LOOKING FOR.
India might well think about negotiating with China regarding Arunachal Pradesh , rather than all the bravado, to take it on ecomically or militariliy

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Hi Guys;
Everybody is sleeping a well earned sleep just now. But in North America, it is not even evening. hence I am still pushing button on keyboard.
Read this article, wonder of wonder, at HT.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/ColumnsOthers/When-the-dead-speak/Article1-822407.aspx
If the center is weak, history will repeat it self. It is for everyone here, including R… and Engrich.

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All;
Jawed Naqvi, writing in dawn today has outdone our Engrich. He has not spared even Congress.

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Elections, excitement, overreach

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/elections-excitement-overreach/921626/0

Excerpts

We also offer him some solace — if polls were won on the basis of the number of times your name is mentioned on TV news, Rahul baba would have won the UP elections by a two-thirds majority

————

And Arnab Goswani could remain on his feet until he was the last man standing, Barkha Dutt could cry hoarse asking and Rajdeep Sardesai could fluster Renuka Chowdhury into mistaking him for Goswami (grrrr!), but none of them got a single Congress person to concede the “captain” is responsible for the UP debacle. Except of course, the “captain” himself. Hilarious, funnier than The Simpsons’ Tuesday episode (Star World), where Bart Simpson goes to vote and each time he presses Obama’s name, McCain gets the vote. Hey now, there’s a thought for Rahul…

————-

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Criminals get a thumbs down in UP, only 14 of 900 victorious

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Specials/Coverage/Assembly-Elections-2012/Chunk-HT-UI-AssemblyElections2012-UP-CountryTales/Criminals-get-a-thumbs-down-in-UP-only-14-of-900-victorious/SP-Article10-822492.aspx

Crime doesn’t pay – even in elections. Uttar Pradesh, which elected criminal candidates year after year, has finally put its foot down. Of the 901 tainted candidates trying their luck at the hustings, just 14 have managed to win. In 2007 elections, 122 such candidates were
elected.

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What went wrong for BJP.

http://epaper.hindustantimes.com/PUBLICATIONS/HT/HM/2012/03/07/ArticleHtmls/What-went-wrong-for-BJP-07032012015007.shtml?Mode=1

Excerpt

In this endeavour, Gadkari was backed by the BJP’s parent body, the RSS, which put its entire network at work. Senior colleagues, including Arun Jaitely, Rajnath Singh and Sushma Swaraj, chipped in to put their best.

The Sangh also encouraged Gadkari to assume full control and adopt a no-nonsense approach.

It encouraged him not to submit to the whims of Hindutva poster boy, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, who stayed out of the campaign.

According to BJP strategists, Gadkari’s target was a decent 70 or 80 and, try possibly, for a figure close to 100. Without Modi’s help, it would have sent a strong signal to him that the party could sometimes do without his hardline image. That was not to be.

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jawed naqvi in dawn today.,

RAHUL Gandhi said after this week’s electoral rout of the Congress party in Uttar Pradesh that he has learnt a good lesson from the stinging defeat in India’s most populous state.

Has he learnt something, really?

Many factors influence defeat and victory in Indian elections. But let me start by dialectically connecting the humbling of Rahul Gandhi to an early morning panic call I got from Pakistan’s soft-spoken intellectual-activist Dr Mubashir Hasan during the Vajpayee administration.

“Babu,” he yelled uncharacteristically on the otherwise clear phone line from Lahore, shouting the name he often gives to his male listeners. “This would be an act of war. What are you reporting, for God’s sake?”

I had quoted India’s former envoy in Islamabad, S.K. Singh, in Dawn that morning as suggesting publicly that New Delhi should shut down the water flow of rivers crossing into Pakistan.

The strategic thinker in the Vajpayee administration was adding his ideas to a pile of hawkish proposals on the table about how to deal with Islamabad after the botched attack on the parliament house, which Islamabad condemned.

The late S.K. Singh became one of the many intellectuals who got to advise the Gandhi family on foreign policy and domestic issues. A level-headed Mani Shankar Aiyar seems a misfit in Rahul Gandhi’s Congress.

Cut to the 2007 election campaign in Uttar Pradesh, which the current outgoing Dalit chief minister Mayawati had won. Rahul Gandhi was sighted one day near Moradabad in that campaign. Suddenly, apropos of nothing, out of the blue, he confided to the
audience that his grandmother had cut Pakistan into two.

Had Rahul Gandhi managed to get a single extra vote for making the utterance that better suits his rivals in the Bharatiya Janata Party, he could be forgiven. Coming from him, though, it sounded like an exuberant expression of inexperience laced with
inputs from a right-wing hawk.

In any case Rahul Gandhi was telling only half the story. He didn’t say, for example, that Indira Gandhi became a very unpopular leader within months of her pyrrhic victory and it eventually led to her imposing emergency rule in 1975. An
unprecedented electoral rout came soon after.

In 1977, she was evicted from Rae Bareli while younger son Sanjay Gandhi was decimated in neighbouring Amethi. That this week’s election results in Uttar Pradesh heaped similar humiliation on Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who has made Rae
Bareli her parliamentary constituency, and on Rahul Gandhi in Amethi, should be a lesson he would do well not to ignore. Bad temper, whether at home or with a neighbouring country, alienates the voter and the neighbours.

For a fraction of the mistakes made by her mother-in-law, Sonia Gandhi lost all five assembly segments in Rae Bareli. Her son managed to secure barely two of five assembly seats for his handpicked Congress candidates in Amethi despite the trumpeted presence of the entire Gandhi family in the campaign, including his sister Priyanka Vadra.

What were the mistakes that the mother-son duo may have made to suffer the ignominy of not just a defeat in Uttar Pradesh but in Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa, where the Congress could have won and was in fact expected to take power but failed?

The Congress’ only gain this week came in the volatile north-eastern state of Manipur. Kashmiris wrongly think that they are being singled out for rough treatment; ask the Manipuris.

I remember Rahul Gandhi making headlines with his visit to a policeman’s family in Chhatisgarh who had been brutally murdered by Maoist guerrillas. It was a widely appreciated humanitarian gesture. The poor policeman was a victim of crossfire
between the coercive arm of the state and rebellious tribal citizens of India whose home and hearth the state and its financiers covet.

The gesture to the policeman’s family, no matter how noble, would never translate into votes. Rahul Gandhi has not spoken clearly, if at all he has said anything, on the actual strife that laid low the policeman, the object of his public grief. The fact is that
we haven’t heard anything worthwhile from Rahul Gandhi on any topic of importance to the masses.

If anything there is a forked-tongue approach in important issues his party canvasses. Socially, the Congress claims proximity to Muslims and Dalits. In practice it has not spelt out a policy to deal with the communal politics stifling Gujarat. I am not even sure that Rahul Gandhi has visited a single Muslim ghetto in the state.

After Dr Manmohan Singh became prime minister in 2005 Rahul Gandhi declared that the BJP was a joke. It had always harmed and insulted his family, including his grandmother, he told reporters. Insulting his family? A joke? Did he have any idea of the mayhem this “joke” had inflicted on India in 1992 in Ayodhya and in Gujarat in 2002? On Christian missionaries, Dalits and tribespeople perpetually?

Towards the Dalits his approach has been a poor imitation of Gandhiji’s disastrous policy with erstwhile ‘untouchables’. We know only too well that Dr B.R. Ambedkar, who Dalits regard as their biggest leader, had little time for Gandhiji’s notion of
Harijans. Dalits see it is a condescending and insulting term, which literally means ‘children of God’. If they were the children of God, who were the parents of the upper castes?

Sleeping in Dalit homes and eating food cooked by them was a bad political a gimmick for Rahul Gandhi. Dalits want honour, justice and jobs. Mayawati gave them honour and according to the poll outcome she was routed in the number of seats but trailed behind the winner only by about a two per cent deficit.

Someone gave Rahul Gandhi a piece of paper to tear up angrily at a public. Nehru and Indira Gandhi used to get away with such tantrums. In fact, their quirks were indulged by the masses. Times have changed. Rahul Gandhi kept mocking the Dalit party’s mascot, the elephant, as a symbol of corruption as if the Congress and the BJP were unblemished by corruption.

Rahul Gandhi didn’t address the real elephant in the room — his party’s palpable political bankruptcy. Is that too difficult a lesson to learn

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~~~ A SIMPLE QUESTION TO ALL BLOGMATES AND TO VINOD SHARMA ~~~
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An interesting question. How did the party of Sardar Patel, Dadabhai Naoroji, Anne besant, Mahatma GANDHI, Ghaffar Khan, Maulana Azad, Jagjivan Ram, Kamraj, C Subramanium. Venkatraman, Lala Lajpat Rai, Rajendra Prasad, G B Pant, Subhash Bose… and Nehru

BECOME THE PVT LTD COMPANY OF ONE FAMILY?

I have this question before. Sanjay Dhawanji’s answer made me smile and I can bet he must be laughing when he wrote that answer

The need of the hour is to make our National parties truely democratic and not family property. Something in the mould, Gopi has suggested.

I think if we can get Congress to be a national movement again and BJP too follows suit (even though it is not a dynastic dictatorship) India would be back on track!

Imagine in case Abraham :Lincoln and George Washington had pleaded that only our families can rule over US… would it not have been a joke?

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@ Sanjay

Accidently the post has landed right on top. But…

India is my country… not Pakistan. I will worry all day and all night to make my land better, Sanjayji.

I hope you do the same.

The Indian national COngress is a national treasure. Dont let it get soiled or spoilt for personal lust or luv for position.

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Viju

Congress was not always a family property; also at one time it had selfless leaders (all the names you mentioned and more) who would resign their cabinet posts/CMship and work for party revitalization.

Kamraj, while being the CM of Madras (as Tamil Nadu was called in those days), persuaded many leaders to resign and work for the revitalization of Congress across the country at all levels. Lal Bahadur, Sk Patil, Morarji, Jagjivan Ram etc resigned, so also Kamraj , under this “Kamraj Plan” in 1963.

Following this, Kamraj became the President of the congress party in 1964. Pandit Nehru died in 1964, Lal Bahadur Shaastri was chosen as the PM; and not Indira Gandhi.

The sudden death of Lal Bahadur, while he was in Soviet Union for the Tashkent IndoPak summit, changed the history of India, opening the way for the Indira Gandhi dynasty.

Morarji Desai was favoured to be the PM by the “right” wing of the party, leftists threatened to bolt, and Indira Gndhi was the consensus candidate — the leftists believed they can manipulate her, she will be a “guddi” — well,as they say, the rest is history.

Indira obviously wanted to perpetuate the family control; but here again, the working committee etc could have mounted a credible opposition; but the constant infighting, and Indira’s innate political skills helped her to preserve, bring Sanjay into politics, and when he passed away, to induct Rajiv. But it was the WC that made Rajiv the PM, and that requested Sonia to be the PM after Rajiv’s death….and it is the same cronies, like Digryodhan, who want Rahul to be the PM..

India’s growth trajectory, economic well being etc would have been much accelerated under Morarji, without wasting 30 years in the la la land.

Death can not be prevented; but everything else could be prevented/minimized/ /avoided/managed.

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Sorry brothers… got to rush to Greater Noida. Three JCB’s waiting for me for site layout.

@ Gopi

Wud have loved to continue the discussion. Rozi ka sawal hai… got to run

@ Sanjay

Gud sparring. Keep it up

@ Ravi

Sorry if I hurt u. DOnt mean to be curt, always. I just react when a perfect discussion is deliberatly hijacked to Modi and RSS rape rape… even when it is about the COngress surrendering to dynastic succession from a glorious past.

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The “mowing” down of Narender, the young police officer in Madhya Pradesh, by the mining mafia is another sad example of the nexus between corrupt politicians, thugs, industry, corrupt bureaucrats ……

The state’s BJP dministration should come clean on this.
Swift arresting and prosecuting the mafia is the right thing as well as good politics.

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this is pakistan,

Rehman Malik: Remember this guys last job was to safeguard just one person, i.e. Benazir Bhutto.

Well, you know how effective he was there.

And it is a fact that when she was attacked, Rehman Malik RAN AWAY.

So how was he punished?

He was make the Interior Minister, responsible for the security of 180 million people.

That he was such elevated was a demand of the U.S. that brought the current leadership into power too is a commonly accepted fact.

~~

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Interview with Sadananda Gowda — today’s NY Times

http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/a-conversation-with-chief-minister-d-v-sadananda-gowda/

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Approximately 110 seats (39 in Tamil Nadu and about 70 in UP) are untouchable for Congress and BJP in the next Lok Sabah elections.

Congress on its own may win 80- 100 seats; BJP on its own may get 130- 170 seats.

UPA is going to force another weak Presidential candidate.

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Ashish and others

Ref: How the lotus can bloom – Asho Malik

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-03-08/edit-page/31132577_1_caste-national-parties-bjp

The link you had provided earlier.

Excerpt

Nevertheless, even the most persuasive coalition builder cannot steer a coalition if his own party doesn’t look to be crossing the 120-125 Lok Sabha seats threshold.

————–

A) For the last several years, Ashok Malik has been advocating that the BJP has to occupy the vacant right-of-the-centre space in the Indian polity. In email exchange with him in October 2010 in reference to his article – Life Beyond Ayodhya (TOI), I had argued that the BJP was incapable of doing so,

1) on account of acquiring an image as a divisive party for nearly two decades.
2) the very same set of leaders simply cannot start singing a new line which is in direct conflict for what they have stood for and for which they have been crying hoarse ever since one can remember. It is a classic case of leopard not able to change its spots. Who would believe them that they have decided to bury the past and start afresh in a constructive and all-inclusive manner? This is a double-whammy for the BJP. sceptics and non-supporters would not believe them and their core constituency would be extremely angry, disappointed and perhaps walk away.
3) he still maintained that elements of the BJP will need to be part of the process. Fair enough.

B) In recent post between Pankaj and me, I had put of the proposal that the BJP has to think of out-of-the-box and one of the solutions was centred around Vasundhara Raje Scindia. In short, the BJP has to move away from Advanis, Modis, Rajnaths, Joshis and Bhartis.

If there was a party like the Swatantra Party of 50s/60s, perhaps the process would have become easier.

C) Ashok Malik estimates 120-125 seats is the optimum figure the BJP can ever hope to reach on its – 150-160 seats short of the majority. In such a scenario, imagine the ruthlessness of the allies, if they can be found and made to join the coalition in the first place, but that is not subject of this post.

D) Why things have come to such a pass?

Even today, the perception (justified or otherwise) of the BJP is that of divisive entity. Making building of the ‘grand’ temple as part of the agenda in the just concluded UP elections showed its wishy-washy mindset. Trying to stand on two stools!

This perception translates to tell the majority that you are under threat from 20% or so of the population (on account of all the wrongs – real or manufactured and present/future or historical, the latter mostly). The current size of the middle class in India is estimated at around 300 million. The balance of the population is rich (therefore powerful) or poor, the former miniscule in size.

Now let us see how this ‘threat’ works out in numbers across these three sections of the population.

1) Playing on the ‘fears’ of the rich and the powerful cuts no ice. No one has ever snatched anything from this section of the society.

2) If one goes and try to tell the poor about the threat, they start wondering as to what this hullabaloo is all about, as they do not have anything worthwhile (spiritual and temporal) that is being coveted by the ‘enemy’.

3) The above leaves 300 million strong middle class. In the best case scenario, if all of them (25% of the population) were to believe the existence of this threat and in case of this section being homogeneously spread in limited number of constituencies, the BJP can hope to win 25% of the seats on its own, which works out to be 120 to 130 seats, add or subtract 10 to 20 seats, which Ashok Malik has estimated.

=============

The Congress Party on the other hand does not have any ideological problems as such. Its problem is having ‘the’ family as the only source of power, wisdom and whatever.

The fear (see fear is being used by both the parties) fueled by the insecure sycophants and the courtiers is that if the party allows a state level leader to become all powerful would result in challenging the hegemony of the Nehru-Gandhi family or rather that of the sycophant jokers in the palace – aka High Command. Wonder if the family itself buys this theory, more so today after the drubbing the party got in the elections?

During Pandit Nehru’s time, each state had many powerful satraps, who Nehru respected and in turn was respected by them. No conflicts.

=============

Is there a way out for the BJP to increase the area of appeal? If so, is the RSS/BJP is prepared to walk that extra-mile?

Is the Congress Party is willing to make course corrections? Is the family prepared to take the risk?

These are tough times for the two largest parties. A billion people question – can we expect to see drastic surgeries? I am not so hopeful.

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Vijay;
I am surprised with the long sparring you have with Sanjay. INC should be a live, fully democratic political organization, where there is no scope of or a hint of dynastic rule. Kings and queens were not relegated or in many cases, thrown in the dustbin of history, to be replaced by family dynasty, at the helm of affairs, of this glorious institution, which goes by the name, Indian National Congress. Innumerable people
have suffered, their family became destitute and also many of them paid ultimate price to have this party where it is now. It is a vehicle to carry the aspirations and hopes of common Indian and not personal fiefdom of a family/ clan. There is nothing to be discussed here. It is disheartening to hear people defending a family which has a stranglehold on virtually only national party of more than 200 years standing.

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~~ CAN ANY REASONABLE PATRIOTIC INDIAN disagree with Pankaj and Gopi ~~
—————————————————————————————————————————–

I have no illusions about myself and never claim any talent or perception. But can anyone disagree with Pankaj?

HIS WORDS :

INC should be a live, fully democratic political organization, where there is no scope of or a hint of dynastic rule. Kings and queens were not relegated or in many cases, thrown in the dustbin of history, to be replaced by family dynasty, at the helm of affairs, of this glorious institution, which goes by the name, Indian National Congress.

——————————————————————————————————————-

Read them and you can almost in the background hear:

veeron ne hai praan ganwaae
kuchh yaad unhein bhi kar lo
kuchh yaad unhein bhi kar lo
jo lauT ke ghar na aaye
jo lauT ke ghar na aaye

Aye mere watan ke logon
zaraa aankh mein bhar lo paani
jo shahid hue hain unki
zaraa yaad karo qurbaani

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Dear Friends,

There was a discussion yesterday on this blog on American dream.

IMO European civilization ( US is part of European Civilization) is passing through its moments of decline. It is a tired civilization. We have gone through this phase in cycle of ups and downs. Difference is , Europe has tired much faster and in lesser time than we did. May be they followed a very frantic pace and got tired faster. All other apparent reasons being attributed are only symptoms and not cause.

If anyone is interested in this topic, we can exchange our thoughts.

[Reply]

Vijay Kumar, Pankaj ji, Gopi,

I am keenly following the blog and the discussion on whether we can save the congress party from the throes of death and revitalise it in the service of the nation.

The fact is that most of my posts are getting deleted.
This evil has crept in ever since Sanjay, the fake Dhawan “appeared” from nowhere and began taking charge of the “defend congress at any cost” gang.

I wrote to Vinod Sharma about it directly, but he apparently couldn’t care less.

If there is a way to get round this Sibbalian obstacle, I would like to know.

[Reply]

Let us wish Akhilesh all the best.

He has achieved a spectacular performance in UP.

Let us hope he will discard the tainted trails of his father.

He is only 38, and if he plays right and well, he can be the PM when India will be first , second , or third, or fourth GDP country in 10-15 years time.

Nothing wrong in having a smart, articulate, young, handsome prime minister!

I believe he has the intent to take UP in an inclusive development path.

[Reply]

Ashish

Something up your street or should I say track

——————–

Mamata Banerjee’s brainwave of ‘job for land’ can stall a railway project

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/editorial/mamata-banerjees-brainwave-of-job-for-land-can-stall-a-railway-project/articleshow/12191908.cms

The best laid plans of mice, men and ministers go astray in strange ways. As railway minister and critic of land acquisition policies of the Left in Bengal, Mamata Banerjee thought she’d come up with a great idea to get people to part with land and be glad about it.

Banerjee’s brainwave was to offer a permanent job – in the railways, where else? – to one member of every family whose land was to be acquired. The job was the sweetener, families whose land was to be acquired would, of course, get the market price for their real estate.

Now that she’s out of the rail ministry and learning the ropes of ruling Bengal, her successor at the ministry is staring at the downside of the Banerjee brainwave. At the heart of the problem is a 19 km stretch of rail track to be laid between two places in West Bengal’s Hooghly district.

Rail minister Dinesh Trivedi is a Trinamool man, so he has to hew to his leader’s formula for land acquisition. The trouble is that even with one job per family that’s giving up land, there’s such a crowd in this fertile part of the state that Trivedi will have to find permanent jobs for 2,300 people.

For just one 19 km of newly laid track. The way things are supposed to be done, each of these jobs will have to be a Grade C post, which means that each candidate will start with a salary of a little more thanRs 10,000 per month.

The government can probably afford the money, but the catch is how to employ so many people productively. As it is, experts estimate the Railways’ surplus manpower in the hundreds of thousands.

The Railways reckons that it’ll need only about 800 new workers to run this sector, the rest will have little or nothing to do. Will Trivedi go with Banerjee’s brainwave? Or will he stop the project in its tracks?

———–

Can he dare stop?

[Reply]

Parties should start preparing for mid-term polls. The beginning of the end of UPA-2, unless SP and BSP play ball, as Didi is on a suicidal journey.

————–

Trinamool Congress talks tough, threatens to oppose policies in Parliament

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Trinamool-Congress-talks-tough-threatens-to-oppose-policies-in-Parliament/articleshow/12201064.cms

Giving a tough message to the Congress ahead of Parliament’s Budget Session beginning on Monday, the Trinamool Congress Friday said it would not accept any cut in fertiliser subsidy or a rise in petroleum prices or even an agency like the National Counter Terrorism Centre which would jeopardise the federal structure of the constitution.

“Wherever interest of common people is concerned we are ready to raise our voice on the floor of the House. If it was done earlier, it can be repeated again,” said Trinamool parliamentary party leader Sudip Bandopadhyay.

———————-

Read on.

[Reply]

TN seeks PM’s intervention for additional power

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2977303.ece

Faced with acute power shortage in the State, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Friday sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s intervention for allocating 1,000 MW of additional power to tide over the crisis.

—————-

Read on

First she opposes the Nuclear Power Plant in her own state and delays its going critical and now this.

Does she want additional power for her state from Bhakra-Nangal Dam?

[Reply]

@manoharT, you seem to be in a mission to launch a JIHAD against mamata banerjee.YOU DO NOT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT WEST BENGAL.Perhaps you would like to enlighten us bloggers HOW SHARAD PAWAR REVOLUTIONISED INDIAN AGRICULTURE. Other than having having a mistress and spending most of his time with BCCI , which incidentally dragged back Indian cricket to the standard of 1960;s.i cant think of any contribution other than making his SON IN LAW a very rich man, from BACKHANDERS.
For the first time in the history of India, MAMATA HAD INSTRUCTED HER POLICE NOT TO SPARE HER BROTHER’S SON AND ARREST HIM.
Compare this with buddhadev bhattacharya. His daughter was stopped while driving in a wrong lane. She reminded the traffic constable , who she was. It didn’t end there. That poor fellow was immediately taken off the duty and transferred to a god forsaken place.Buddhadev had a BATTALION of police guards at his GOVT RESIDENCE.
One poor fellow WAS SLOW in saluting him when buddhadev disembarked from car’He was SWIFTLY transferred the next day.(These are not figment of my imagination , Ananya Chatterjee Prof in Media studies St Xavier College QUOTED THE STATESMAN in a NDTV discussion.
MAMATA HAS NEARLY SOLVED MAOIST PROBLEM IN MIDNAPORE
Perhaps that news has not reached you
MAAMATA HAS ALSO MOLLIFIED THE NEPALIS IN DARJEELING, there is no violence now , RANBIR KAPOOR WHO SHOT THE FILM BARFI IN DARJEELING WAS SMITTEN BY ITS CHARM.
SHE IS TRYING TO DEPOLITICISE EDUCATION
Previously EACH AND EVERY appointment in major dept and colleges used to be vetted by ALIMUDDIN STREET(CPM HQ)
You completely ignored my post on PRESIDENCY COLLEGE, where academics from HARAVARD CAMBRIDGE have expressed their interest to teach in presidency college.
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE HISTORY OF INDIA , college elections will be conducted under the supervision of ELECTION COMMISSION
She has BANNED college lecturers taking active part in political parties.
First time since the PLAGUE OF 35 YRS , Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University is going to SELECTED by a search panel , the panel names are Anil Kakkodkar, Mushirul Hassan(VC of Jamia Milia) , and an acdemic from Calcutta University.
I said to Vijay Khapodia , perhaps time to remind you
LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP
THINK BEFORE POSTING CANARDS.

[Reply]

Ravi:
Congress and BJP destroyed each other in UP??
From the all too ephemeral high of 2009 LS polls, Congress is down to 28 seats. This is because BJP destroyed it? Even BJP would not claim such a feat.
Amul Baby attacked everyone- his ire mostly reserved for Mayawati and Mulayam. Rightly so; as the BSP were the incumbents and SP, it was apparent were strong contenders.
BJP and Congress were no-hopers in UP- Congress hyped it with the help of a pliant media to make believe as if it was on an upswing. BJP’s campaign was so desultory and lacking in imagination as to make no difference.
You are of course right that Congress would be better served by kicking out this dynasty and focusing on policy making and execution which is the real work of governance.

[Reply]

@ Ashish, For a starter leave baby deaths out.I do not feel any point in discussing a matter which is simply beyond you.Like you don’t expect me to discuss cell signalling with you.
Now lets take point by point.
Land acquistion , what can she do ANOTHER SINGUR, rape and then burning of TAPASI MALLICK(bloggers please google).
The alternate is to invoke COLONIAL 1852 british laws which the vermin party did.
In JAPAN one will come across bizarre scene of skyscrappers all around with a tiny patch of PADDY growing plot. The peasant will not part with his land NOT MUCH YOU CAN DO.
IMAGINE YOURSELF IN THE SITUATION OF THOSE HAPLESS FARMERS, perhaps you would like to offer some suggestion , rather than GYAN DEWA, I would recommend you for a padmashree.
Rest of what you have written is TRIVIALITY in greater scheme of things , an aftertaste of 35 YEARS OF PLAGUE.
In UK AGRICULTURAL LAND CANNOT BE USED FOR NON AGRICULTURAL USE BY THE FORCE OF LAW.
Many SPECULATORS AND I KNOW PERSONALLY SOME IN KENT
are sitting on agricultural land , just waiting for it to be reclassified as non agricultural land , THE PRICE IS 200 times , when designated non agricultural, AND THEY ARE EVER EAGER TO SELL

[Reply]

Bhai Ashish;
When nothing else is happening here in this blog, I thought, I should acknowledge the fact that why I come here. Amongst few of us, who come here regularly, You, Shenoy Sahab, Vijay, Mohan, Gopi, Manohar, Mahesh, Shan, and surprise of surprise,Ravi and Engrich for their negativity, I come here. It is just for brevity, that I am not mentioning all names. Folks excuse me. out of all of them, your and Shenoy Sahab’s style is unique, very incisive analysis, very refreshing. No buttering here.

[Reply]

All;
As this is the fact of life, Geography and time difference, I am , alone, pushing buttons on key board.
Read in TOI about stone Maphia in Morena or some such palce, where an IPS officer was killed by mining Maphia, make me sad immnesely. Ravi/ Engrich, there is nothing like Muslim goon or Hindu goon, or by extension Hindu maphia and Muslim maphia, all are anti common people. Crush them with all state might.

[Reply]

Post Script
Mamata , FDI, Pension Bill and the inability to join the bandwagon
First FDI. She is totally wrong , apparently yanks are coming to convince her of its merit.
Pension Bill, She has reservation to one part of the bill , which I fully support.
That is letting the pension fund managers right to invest that money in share market.
WE HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE, it is called the banking crisis.
The “east delhi citizen” conviniently failed to mention the INFERNO at AMRI hospital where 100 patient died. The reason for such a calculated lapse , is the fact that the marwari CROOKS were able grow into a dinosaur from the size of an ant , only because of tutelage from Jyoti Basu. ONE OF THE MARWARI DIRECTOR WAS A CARD CARRYING MEMBER OF CPM.
Even Ratan Tata twitted , how impressed he was at the deft handling of the situation by mamata.
Selective targetting of Mamata is risible as is mischevious , and there is more than a passing resemblance to the saurav ganguli episode , vis a vis his removal from captaincy, AND THE GUY WHO REPLACED HIM BROUGHT THE GREATEST IGNOMINY TO INDIAN NATION , DEFEAT BY BANGLADESH .
The same guy is now being feted as india’s greatest hero

[Reply]

So Mulayam is pushing his son to become CM. Curiosity now is how his son will turn out to be. If he is another Mulayam, state will loose. If he wants to be different, he will loose himself in the party. (SP “workers” have been celebrating their victory in typical SP istyle. Can they tolerate a polished person?) He could be another Udbhav Takre. Hope, UP people are more sensible than Maharashtra guys whose choices are between Pawar, Bhujbal or Raj Takre but not Udbhav. WB also thrown CPM exactly at a time when it was trying to change to welcome Trinamool. Heard somewhere before. Democracy is the only system, which delivers exactly what people deserve. Best wishes Akhilesh.

[Reply]

THE WALL STANDS TALL.

RAHUL DRAVID HAS CALLED IT A DAY.

LET US BE PATIENT, THE OTHER RAHUL TOO MAY SEE THE WRITING ON THE WALL.

[Reply]

Prahlad,

you said, “Stop seeing ghosts in broad day light.”

Funny you should say this. We have heard of ghost writers, but being a ghost of the blog-master is something new, though these last few months we have lived with the ghastly ghost of a doubt, the ghost sometimes becoming Prabhat and later changing “form” (ghosts are supposed to be formless) to Prahlad.

I am, like Rajeev and some others too, “haunted” by the censorship introduced on this blog. Or may be, like the ghost, the posts too just disappear.

[Reply]

—————————————————————————————————————————-
~~ NEEM HAKIM, KHATRE – E – JAAN ~~ Exposing Wendy Doniger ~~~
~~~~ and her duffer fans ~~~~~
—————————————————————————————————————————

SInce Sanjay Dhawan wanted me to meet psychologists and psychiatrists– let me confess I have a healthy respect for them. But many of them, get it totally wrong, especially those not trained in medicine but dependent on Freudian pyschoanlalysis.

Especially Wendy Doniger who like someone we know sees sex sex everywhere. Much like rape to the left of us, rape to the right of us…

A confused person on this site keeps quoting Wendy Doniger believing that she like Einstein, Dr Christian Barnard and Don Bradman is an authority. How far from the truth this assertion is? Maybe her views on Islam show

here is a sample

Off with her head!: the denial of women’s identity in myth, religion, and … By Howard Eilberg-Schwartz, Wendy Doniger

There are chapters in the book comparing the WOman’s Hijab to sex !!

It compares the Burqa clad woman’s mouth to a vagina…. and what not. And then talks about rape in the mouth…

Well it is QUITE off target. I dont dare quote for fears of blasphemy. Just pointing out that Wendy may have got it totally wrong and funnily wrong !!

By the way Engrich, is Wendy the right person to quote?????

[Reply]

Shan,

I 100% agree with you about agricultural lands being converted to Non- agricultural. This is a huge ‘ business ‘ in India and I know personally people
involved in this gigantic scam. Agricultural land is bought at peaunuts and then
wait for few years, bribe the offcials, convert that land to Non- agricultural state
and sell that at a mammoth profit. Brokers, builders mafia, babus and politicians all are involved in this huge scam.

[Reply]

Shenoy/Aashish,

What should I do to join this club? It seems only jokes are
not enough and whatever else I write, no one reads.

[Reply]

Gopiji,

“BJP works overtime to loose” and now
“BJP gets thing grift wrapped but they do not know how to open the gifts.”

Simply brilliant.

There seems to be some problem with discuss, my two posts were replies
to Shan and Aashish but they have appeared at the top.

[Reply]

The SAD redux

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-sad-redux/921619/0

The clear-cut mandate for the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), along with its alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in Punjab is as much due to the panthic party re-inventing itself as to the Congress failing to gauge the changing aspirations of the people.

———–

Read on.

[Reply]

Punjab Analysis
———————————
In our Punjab breakup is only 30% are OBC/ SC and 70% are Sikhs and forward caste. So Mulayam or Myawati style idiots or Khurshid or Amar Singh type minority appeasement would be punished severly by punjabis. Now blogers I will say something provokative- WHO IS LOW CASTE ?
answer- he is forward caste or class of tomorrow. It is just that sirji, many in Punjab had their ‘tomorrows’ yesterday.
Everyone pl you have nice warm weekend.

[Reply]

UPA coalition deteriorating, says Jaitley

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/upa-coalition-deteriorating-says-jaitley/922161/

Commenting on the prospects of mid-term polls, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley said the Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition was deteriorating and could lose their majority if the BJP were to push for mid-term polls.

———-

Read on.

[Reply]

Interesting article on “Americanization of India”…today’s NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/opinion/sunday/how-india-became-america.html

[Reply]

Vijay-/Others
Interesting article on Delhi/Mogul-post mogul paintings- murder and maim etc

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/opinion/sunday/how-india-became-america.html

[Reply]

vijay-/others
Interesting article on Delhi/Mogul-postmogul paintings- murder and maim etc

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/arts/design/princes-and-painters-in-mughal-delhi-at-asia-soci

[Reply]

sorry–this is the article about Delhi paintings/murders etc
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/arts/design/princes-and-painters-in-mughal-delhi-at-asia-soci

[Reply]

http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/10/scenes-from-a-dying-empire/

[Reply]

Mamata re-enacts Pranab’s Hidco act

http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=402614&catid=35

Excerpts

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee will lay the foundation of the international financial hub at Rajarhat tomorrow which was earlier laid by Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee in 2010.

Mr Mukherjee laid the foundation of a Rs 16,000-crore financial hub on 13 October. Former chief minister Buddhaheb Bhattacharjee, and his two Cabinet colleagues, Mr Asim Dasgupta and Mr Gautam Deb, were present at the function. So was former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly.

Miss Banerjee, who was then railway minister, was invited to attend the function and two senior officials of the Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco) had gone to her Kalighat residence. However, she had skipped the meeting without showing any reason.

The chairman of four nationalised banks also attended the meeting. The proposed financial hub was supposed to have come up on 300 acres of land.

————

Senior Hidco officials refused to comment on tomorrow’s programme and the money that will be spent to organise it. They also did not say anything when asked why they did not tell the chief minister that the foundation was laid by Mr Mukherjee in 2010.

————

[Reply]

Manohar-Vijay

Our news media is a big backer of dynasties….just see the language they have used all across the print media “Akhilesh’s coronation”…. He won it; there was no tussle for leadership.. To a great extent media is undermining the democratic process…

Now, coming to the negative side of “dynasty”… Azam Khan, SP leader, who was initially against Akhiles’ nomination for CM ship, had this to say “for someone who has grown in front of them, you must understand that it is not easy for anyone to see him as a boss”

[Reply]

First Mining Mafia, then Liquor Mafia and now Sand Mafia
———–

Now, sand mafia attacks cops and officials in Madhya Pradesh

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Now-sand-mafia-attacks-cops-and-officials-in-Madhya-Pradesh/articleshow/12210891.cms

Within two days of the killing of Indian Police Service officer Narendra Kumar Singh by the mining mafia in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena district, there was another attack on police and government officials in the state on Saturday, this time in the Panna district, an official said.

———-

Read on.

[Reply]

The Congress party’s rediscovery of India
Jyoti Malhotra

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ist/entry/the-congress-party-s-rediscovery-of-india

Excerpts

The Gandhi stranglehold over the party, at least since it suprisingly took back India from under the BJP’s nose in 2004, also means that it is pretty lonely at the top. On the one hand, Rahul has sought to democratise the Youth Congress by holding elections for the first time in decades. Perhaps intra-party elections in the grand old party would have been next, especially if the Congress had done decently in the UP elections.

———-

The Gandhis were surprised they lost UP so badly because they don’t hear the truth from their closest advisers. They don’t hear the truth because they don’t really trust anybody.

That would mean that they don’t really have any friends with whom they can share their worst political nightmares; there are always people around to share the good times, of course.

————–

[Reply]

Government that works
Electoral Reforms As A Pre-Requisite
By KP Bhattacharjee

http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=402539&catid=38

In a democratic country, governance by an elected government is fundamental to the concept of the rule of law. However, it has also been remarked that a “government which governs least is the best”. Freedom and order are the two major elements of a democratic society. And to establish order there has to be an effective government.

Over the past year, the Centre has been thoroughly ineffective in the face of scams and corruption. These scams would not have happened if strong steps had been taken at the right time. In the net, the national exchequer has suffered a huge loss. It is generally believed that the cabinet as a whole is responsible and ought to resign till its innocence is proved. Investigations against certain ministers has been hampered by statements from other ministers.

—————-
Read on.

[Reply]

Not for nothing people call Rahul Dravid the wall
because any bowler trying to make his wicket fall
had the toughest job on hand with the ball

whenever his team was down, he always took the call
in comparison with him, most names would look small
In the hall of fame Rahul Dravid stands tall.

[Reply]

Vijay/Others-

An interesting article in NY times about Congress’ pandering of Muslims, loss in UP etc -
http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/the-politics-of-pandering-in-india/

[Reply]

Praveen Saxena sahab;
barsat ke dinon main, kabhi kabhi nikal ne wali dhoop ki tarah aaten hain aur phir chhup jate hain. come more frequently. miss your analysis as you are from the center of UP politics, Allahabad.

[Reply]

All;
Taking a plunge again in the vortex of work, will not come frequently to blog for at least couple of weeks. See you later.

[Reply]

Vijay/others-

A bit of Delhi Mogul period/ murders/maiming etc… interesting history…….

http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/10/scenes-from-a-dying-empire/

[Reply]

Friends (in India):

1) Reports say Akhilesh has been doing the groundwork for more than one year, cris-crossing the state, obtaining voters’ feedback etc… Was congress unaware of this?

2) I read Akhilesh is a socialist. Did he campaign on a socialism plaque? Do the citizens of UP really want to be in a socialistic set up? Does that mean they consider West Bengal as a model state to emulate?

[Reply]

‘We gave MP a diamond, got back ashes’ :

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/MadhyaPradesh/We-gave-MP-a-diamond-got-back-ashes/Article1-823573.aspx

[Reply]

—————————————————————————————————————————–
~~~ YEH KYA HUA…. KAISE HUA….. KAB HUA…. KYA BATAYEIN…. ~~~
—————————————————————————————————————————-

Outlook magazine has a full issue on the “Rahul problem….”

Now if we go back into this blog two years, this small blogger had spotted the Rahul Problem years ago, And So had many of the perceptive lot of bloggers.

That dynastic succesion does nnot befit a democracy like India,

That Digvinash Singh is a dunce, Mani silencer a twerp, and the tv channels, chamchas for lucre

That you cannot wink at LeT, blow kisses at terrorists of 26/11 and still hope to win India.

That you cannot fool Muslims by trying to isolate them…

Ab kya batayein…

Chodo yeh naa poocho ….

[Reply]

BIGGEST WINNERS AND WORST LOSERS IN UP.
=======================================

Mulayam must have learnt a new English word: ‘yummy, yummy’.
Without doubt, this victory will leave its lingering sweetness in his mouth for some time.
And without doubt he and Akhilesh are the big winners.

Mayawati and Rahul Gandhi are the biggest losers. If there is a toss up between the two, Rahul may be the lucky one who gets the trophy for the biggest loser.

Yes, BJP comes close behind Mayawati.

Who else lost their desposits in this election?

The one entity which lost almost all its bets and investments is the media, which had backed the Royal family of Sonia Gandhi to the hilt. And lost all. The media backed psephologists looked like bad caricatures of jyotishis.

BUT THE BIGGEST,SILENTEST WINNER IS MAUN MOHAN SINGH, WHOSE VERY CONTINUANCE WAS IN THE BALANCE, HAS EMERGED, WITH THE LEAST EFFORT AND NIL INVESTMENT, THE BIGGEST GROSSER. HE IS NOW THE UNCHALLENGED, UNCROWNED and IMMOVABLE pm OF BHARAT VARSH.

[Reply]

Who wants snap elections

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Who-wants-snap-elections-and-why/articleshow/12219395.cms

As a thumb rule MPs don’t like early polls. But some of their leaders might be keen on it. TOI takes a look.

238 MPs may be in favour

JD(U), 20 MPs: Nitish Kumar faces no serious challenge from RJD and towers over partner BJP. He did well in the last Lok Sabha elections and is confident of doing well again. Hopes to be a PM candidate if BJP fails to get the numbers

——–

280 MPs should be opposed to early elections, among them those from Cong (206), BSP (21), DMK (18), CPM (16), RLD (5), CPI (4), NC (3), AIFB (2), RSP (2) & JVM (2), MIM (1)

——–

Read on

[Reply]

—————————————————————————————————————————–
~~~ THE MEDIA SEES SOME LIGHT~~~~ at last ~~~ ~~
—————————————————————————————————————————-

My enlightening the world about the dangers of dynastic succession, along with some perceptive fellow bloggers seems to have enlightened the media, a bit.

Today’s Hindustan Times has a full page Bold headlines, ” SON RISE IN UP ! ”

Of course it only talks about the rise of Akhilesh Singh and indirectly assaults this as dynastic succession. Maybe the HT writers, jouronos are still to notice that the SONS ALSO ROSE IN THE CONGRESS– Sanjay, Rajiv, Rahul.

Maybe those guys have still not noticed !!!!!! Wah re HT !!!

Even Outlook has now asked Rahul various questions which we in the blog section raised

a) Why cannot he address press conferences and give interivews?
b) Why were 34% Congress tickets given to criminals
c)Why did Rahul Baba communalise the campaign
d)Why has he not been able to buid an organisation after 3 yrs of so called hard work?

e) Dont you think the mishandling of the Lok Pal create public anger against the UPA?

e)WHAT ARE YOUR VIEWS ON WHO DESREVES TO BE A PRIME MINSTER?

Outlook had been consistently supporting the COngress, Sonia and Rahul . I think they are seeing some light now.

[Reply]

The man who saw tomorrow, yesterday””””””””’

Actually Sanjay, Vijay has been banging about the dynastic problem and about the shortcomings of Amul baby for long. So credit to him- he was the man who saw tomorrow, yesterday.

In fact credit for these lines should go to Balwinder praaji who said something moving last week- ? – “WHO IS THE HIGH CASTE / CLASS? He is the low caste of yesterday. In Punjab, many saw their tomorrows, yesterday”

so thank you, Vijay and Balwinder- desh-premis, sociologists

and also thx Binoy, I read the article The Americanisation of India by that guy who had an Indian father and American mother. Some perspectives are global now

[Reply]

ravi bhai,shan balwinder jee mysterious david cameron,

David Cameron, great-great grandfather was Emile Levita, a German-Jewish financier.

UK prime minister David Cameron says that Dow Chemicals is a “reputable company”.

Dow Chemicals, linked to the Bhopal gas tragedy in India in 1984, is a sponsor of the 2012 Olympics.

(Cameron: Sad if India boycotted Olympics, won’t drop Dow as sponsor)

Through his paternal grandmother, Cameron is a direct descendant of King William IV by his mistress Dorothea Jordan.

On 9 March 2012, in the UK’s right-wing Daily Telegraph, ‘middle middle class’ journalist Damian Thompson attacks the UK’s right-wing prime minister David Cameron, and Cameron’s economics minister George Osborne, for being upper class snobs.

Dave and George and the middle middle classes

According to Damian Thompson:

1. Cameron and Osborne grew up in the company of utter snobs who have contempt for the middle middle classes.

2. Cameron has a long history of forgetting to say thank-you to Conservative Party activists, who overwhelmingly come from the middle middle classes.

3. Nadine Dorries has said that Conservative government policy is being run by “two public schoolboys” who don’t understand being short of cash – “and what’s worse, they don’t care

[Reply]

Good news that more women voted in the last elections.. considering the women/men ratio in states like UP and Punjab, this is even more meaningful.

http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/07/women-voters-flock-to-polls-in-indias-latest-elections/

[Reply]

How topical , in view of the previous post , here is a copy and paste
Eight young women whose mothers are sex workers were married in a so-called “village of prostitutes” on Sunday under a plan to save them from being pushed into the world’s oldest profession.
ANY GUESS WHERE THIS VILLAGE IS SITUATED,
What does the swabhimaan brigade has to say

[Reply]

Manohar

One item prevalent in the “national” party that is fortunately missing from the regional/state parties is the planned, organized effort to defeat its own nominees by the disgruntled people who did not get tickets..

BJP would have been in a position to form the ministry in Utarkhand (albeit a majority of 1) had another BJP useless, Romesh, not worked overtime to defeat gen Khanduri, an honourable man.

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Mr. Subramaniam Swamy claims that he prepared the blue print of economic reforms
and Manmohan Singh only implemented those reforms.
An interesting interview.

http://www.deeshaa.org/2012/03/09/subramanian-swamy-excerpts-from-a-march-5th-interview/

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Another interesting article from the same website.

Statue of Natraj at CERN.

Logo of Science and Non-Duality conference which is going to be held in Oct this year
in California is OM = mc2.

http://www.deeshaa.org/2012/03/09/on-the-global-influence-of-hindutva-the-long-hand-of-the-rss/

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It is a bit amazing and ‘touching’ to see some of the Modi/BJP fans here dishing out advice (some backhanded) to discipline and straighten the Congress Party., so that it becomes a better fighting force to decimate the opposition. Don’t they want Modi to be the next Prime Minister and accordingly suggest means to make the BJP better than the rest or is it the case of not possible or couldn’t care less or no nerve to discuss the negatives of the party with difference(s)?

Is their new found ‘love’ for the Congress due to the following?

Difficult for BJP to come to power in 2014: RSS

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Difficult-for-BJP-to-come-to-power-in-2014-RSS/articleshow/12222328.cms

Excerpts

Holding that BJP is suffering from “Congress patch” in UP, the RSS has said it will be difficult for the saffron party, which has a “bigger army of leaders than workers” in the state, to come to power in 2014 Lok Sabha elections unless it answers the questions posed by assembly poll results.

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The RSS alleged that the BJP is suffering from “Congress patch” in the state and is disconnected from the people.

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Read on.

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Washington Post coverage on the number of criminals who contested the elections..

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/criminals-flourish-in-indian-elections/2012/03/03/gIQA1E1JsR_story.html

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A) Not been approached on issue of being PM candidate: Mulayam

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_not-been-approached-on-issue-of-being-pm-candidate-mulayam_1661179

Amidst speculation that he may be a prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose Samajwadi Party stormed to power in UP Assembly polls, on Sunday said no one has approached him on the issue.

“No. No one has approached me with the offer of being prime ministerial candidate,” he told reporters here.

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See what euphoria has done to the Netaji.
Good luck to him. Read on.

B) Won’t campaign for LS bypoll in Karnataka: BSY

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Karnataka/Won-t-campaign-for-LS-bypoll-in-Karnataka-BSY/Article1-823742.aspx

On a mission of show of strength, former Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa on Sunday made it clear that he would not ask the BJP high command for chief ministership and that he would not campaign for the March 18 Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha bypoll in the wake of the attack on him by chief
minister DV Sadananda Gowda.

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If the BJP wins, then what BSY?
Read on.

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BJP and CONGRESS, who is the lesser EVIL, or is it a choice between the devil and the deep sea , or chose between rock and a hard place.
BJP front benchers(a term used in UK to denote the probable cabinet members), are a mish mash of OLD INDIA(sushma swaraj) , hot air (jaitley), and intellectually stunted(Jaswant sinha). If their “source code” is sudarshan and that moron Tarun Vijay , then honestly BJP IS ANYTHING BUT RADICAL.
It has hardly any difference with congress so far ECONOMIC POLICY is concerned.
IT IS HYPOCRITE TO THE BONE, thus OPPOSED FDI AND NUCLEAR TREATY WITH USA(patriotism up your arse)
CONgress is a FAMILY OWNED PARTY , like a FAMILY OWNED BUSINESS.
The family owned business used to be the norm in 19th century ,

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