Hope Springs Eternal.....

There is nothing more appealing to the human heart than the flame of hope.

President Obama's campaign was centered around the audacity of hope, a spirit that permeated throughout America that "Yes, we can!". And that spirit resonated in President Obama's resounding victory in 2008.

In India, we had been steadily and exponentially losing the hope that brings a spring in our steps ever since 2004. It has been 10 years, but, still I have not been able to get over the fact that Prime Minister Vajpayeeji lost the mandate to govern India despite the great work that the NDA had done from 1999 to 2004. The tenure of Vajpayeeji was associated with pathbreaking strides made in development of the nation - the national highways project, power sector reforms and untangling the mess in telecom. There was a general feeling of well-being across all classes in Vajpayeeji's tenure.

Stunned as we were with the UPA victory in 2004, we went along with hope. The momentum of the Vajpayee era kept the nation going for sometime. But the rot set in. The Left and other coalition partners were blamed for the UPA's inability to do anything progressive. I as a common man bought that argument.

Then came the signing of the nuclear deal with the United States. That was when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spiritedly stood up against his critics and saw the deal through, even though it was at the risk of guillotining his political future. I saw hope in Dr. Singh's conviction and backed him fully, when the 2009 elections were announced. 

I had hoped that, Dr. Singh, who was the architect of modern India's resurgence in 1991, during Prime Minister Narasimha Rao's regime, would usher in the good times again. (Incidentally, I would rate Mr. Rao as India's best Prime Minister ever, followed by Vajpayeeji and Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastriji)

With the Left sidelined in the 2009 electoral verdict and no millstone around his neck, Dr. Singh was expected to steer the nation into a higher gear. But sadly, we drifted, aimlessly, into notorious economic doldrums. And that's when I asked myself, is this the guy who laid the blueprint of modern India in 1991? 

We lost hope, as a nation, we drifted and that gloom was all pervasive. There was pain all around - household budgets shot up, business stagnated and there was utter chaos. And here was the Prime Minister who was a statesman abroad but at home, he was a mute spectator to the shameful shenanigans that the UPA government became so used to. It was ironic that we had a renowned economist Prime Minister who helped formulate President Obama and Chancellor Angela Merkel's economic strategies to navigate the United States and the European Union out of the mess they were in, yet here, in India, we lost a decade, valuable 10 years in which we could have shifted to a "new normal" of a growth trajectory. 

Then catastrophe struck us. Even a school kid would realise that seeds of economic decay lie in the culture of doles, yet the UPA government, under the 'able' stewardship of an economist thought it was the bribe that could get them electoral success for eternity, as they said, "the poor cannot eat roads", so why build roads? 

But as the Chinese say "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime". Under Dr. Singh, we lost an opportunity to feed our masses for a generation, with the right kind of economic opportunity that the nation lost out on.

Our Prime Minister seemed aloof, ignorant, insensitive and oblivious of the nation's pain. That was shameful. We as a country were orphaned, we were pushed around, we were taken for granted.

It was only much later that I realised that Dr. Singh was an accidental Prime Minister. But was it really an accident? And it turned out, Dr. Singh was a mukhauta or a mask, that Vajpayeeji was accused of being a few years back.

Can Dr. Singh escape the blame for being a mukhauta? 

Certainly not, for as the Arabs say, "A person who does not speak out against the wrong is a mute devil". I would stop short of calling the gentlemanly Dr. Singh a devil, but he had to own up and I wonder if history would be kind to him at all.

In this vacuum came in Mr. Modi with a common-sensical agenda for shifting into the higher gears. He reminded us that the audacity of hope will always be in fashion. His agenda kindled the dying flame in our countrymen, which is evident in the increased footprint of the NDA in the verdict of the 2014 elections. 

And the hope he had shown us has got him elected into the high office of this blessed nation. I wish Modiji and his team lots of luck and with grace of God and the nation's perseverance, we would more than make up for the lost decade.

Incidentally, this is my first blog on a political topic in the last two years. I must confess, I too had lost hope.

But, then as the human spirit is wont to, hope does spring eternal...

An Agenda for Continuity

Today, the grand old man, Mr. L.K. Advani had a few valuable suggestions on the way our political system could be organised. His pearls of wisdom included compulsory voting, elections only once in 5 years and that too in February when the weather is salubrious, with a view on improving turnouts. Even though I do not support Mr. Advani in his desperate urge to become the Prime Minister, I agree with him totally on these ideas.

A few days back, Dr. Manmohan Singh also gave some invaluable suggestions - like limiting the role of regional parties and independents in the electoral process.

I agree with both of them completely. These are the only words of sanity coming in the cacophony of the ongoing electoral process.

I would be a little radical on this.

We are increasingly going to play an important role in the world theatre. The Doomsday Scenario is playing out. Whether we like it or not, India is reluctantly going to be drawn into a conflict with both Islamic fundamentalists across the western borders and in Afghanistan. We cannot rule out a high intensity conflict with the Chinese.

The scenario will play out in the next 20-odd years. In this evolving war theatre, the nation is going to be stretched for able political minds to strategize for the future - to not only ensure our survival but success as a nation.

To ensure effective and sane governance, we would need a legislation that defines on who gets to occupy key berths in the Union Cabinet. For instance, the defence ministry should go to a distinguished ex-serviceman, external affairs to an ex-diplomat, finance ministry to an economist, etc. We have in the past picked up people who have no damn clue what they are supposed to do in these mission-critical ministries.

Visualise a scenario where the Behenji or the likes of Deve Gowda become the Prime Minister. These people have no world view and have a myopic a vision of where as a nation would stand. Their parochial politics would make them Prime Ministers of Uttar Pradesh or Karnataka, as the case may be.

Such a legislation would ensure continuity of rational policy, which would give India the much required decoupling from political instability and parochialism.

Is it possible?

Yes, it is indeed.

The institutions like the Reserve Bank of India gives us a glimmer of hope that independent minded institutions can thrive for the good of the nation.

But the big question is whether the Congress and the BJP would get together to make it happen.

The Great Indian Tamasha begins....

In a couple of weeks the Great Indian Tamasha will begin.... It's not a circus I am talking about. It's the dance of democracy - the general elections is what I am talking about.

A few days back we were at the center of the world stage at the G-20 summit in London. The whole world is today looking at us, alongwith China, in the hope that we, perhaps the only growing economies, would pull back the world from the brink of financial Armageddon. As a resurgent nation, we went about telling the world that we would (yes, it's true) contribute to IMF, rather than borrow from it. Who could have imagined this in 1991, when Dr. Manmohan Singh pledged India's gold reserves for valuable foreign exchange?

Tomorrow, the elections will be on us. The question we are faced with is whether the resurgent momentum would be sustained after the elections or not?

Who would be voted in, is the big question today. With limited choices, I am looking at selecting the party to vote for by elimination.

Among the choices we have are the behenji, the comrades, the so called "knicker-walas" and the topiwala Congressmen.

We certainly cannot afford to have behenji at the helm of affairs - the whole law and order system would then be turned in an organised system of collecting loot for her birthday.

The comrades would close all of India's frontiers, except one - the Northern one. The Chinese would in all probability annex India as they did with Tibet, with the comrades playing ball. We cannot let them be a part of the of the government.

The choice boils down to essentially two options - the BJP or the Congress.

While I agree with some of the issues that the BJP has long advocated, e.g., stronger foreign and security policy, modernisation of defence forces, evolving strategic partnerships with both Israel and the United States, abrogation of Article 370 and adoption of a Uniform Civil Code, I feel, today, after Mr. Vajpayee ceded control of the party to Mr. Advani, they have not only lost allies but more importantly, also lost focus.

BJP may not be a dynastic organisation but it doesn't have a credible leadership today. Mr. Advani seems like an old man in a hurry who appears to be too eager to become the Prime Minister at least once, before he is forced to retire from politics. He is projecting himself as a muscular candidate with lots of promises on security and likes of it all, but we musn't forget he could not prevent the release of militants in exchange for the release of militants at Kandahar, one of India's saddest moments in history after the 1962 debacle.

He is trying to project himself as India's Obama, reaching out to Indian netizens. But the important question that I ask is whether he has the means to bring the vision to reality. He certainly does not have a A-team to realise this vision.

Two, BJP's idealistic principles of the early 2000s seem have to given way to rag-tag policies, without a concrete vision that a budding superpower should have. I don't see any vision for the next 50-years emanating out of the BJP.

Today, their view is lopsided - take the nuclear deal for instance - an issue based support to the UPA would have finished off the Left and could have reduced support for the so called 3rd front, paving the way for a two-party system, which would have brought a lot of stability to the political system. BJP's stand on the nuclear deal left a lot to be desired, baffled many BJP insiders (Mr. Brijesh Mishra being one such BJP member, who actually said that the deal was good for India and the BJP would have signed the deal had they been in power) and personally left me disappointed and saddened.

Let us admit it, gone are the days of Mr. Vajpayee. His immense goodwill has been squandered by Mr. Advani and his team, by their constant in-fighting and intra-party bickering. If things stay the way they are, the BJP may fade away into political oblivion, unless of course, Mr. Narendra Modi is able to shift to the Centre.

I must further admit that I am no fan of the Congress either. Like many others, I somehow detest the thought of a pasta-eating foreigner leading India's oldest political party. With all the sycophancy, dynastic leadership style and rampant corruption within the Congress, there is a lot to be desired. No one can forget how the man-slaughter of Sikhs in 1984, had de-facto sanction of the Congress. And to top it all, when the perpetrators of the crime get an acquittal, the party's commitment to justice is questioned.

However, with Dr. Manmohan Singh at helm, the Congress has indeed shown some signs of a commitment to moving forward, consistently and decisively. The nuclear deal and reactions to 26/11 do show that Dr. Singh's A-team, comprising of Mr. Chidambaram and Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, does mean business.

A netizen once had argued with me saying that the Congress is lacking leaders. There is nobody to replace Mr. Chidambaram as Finance Minister, at a time when the world is facing the worst economic crisis in our living memories. He went on to say that our Prime Minister, who is fighting with his health, is playing multiple roles. He went to question how Sonia could lead the party.

My counter argument is that despite not having a full time Finance Minister, we have fared well on the economic front. And Dr. Manmohan Singh's A-team did hold the fort very well while he was away. Let's not forget, as opposed to the BJP, the Congress, today does have quite a few youth leaders who can step in if required.

It is obvious, that today, we as a nation are at cross-roads. The choices we make today will define how the India of tomorrow shapes the future of the world. The Congress, with Dr. Manmohan Singh seems to be our best bet.

At this point, I am reminded of Rahul Gandhi's powerful speech in the Parliament during the debate on the confidence vote on the nuclear issue on July 22, 2008, where he said that a powerful country thinks of how it can impact the world, whereas the not-so-powerful country of how the world would impact it.

Dr. Manmohan Singh's has in the last one year just done that - thinking of how India can impact the world, in imparting financial stability and achieving a secure neighbourhood. He sure does deserve another chance to make a difference to the world.

And we as players in the Great Indian Tamasha, i.e. as voters in the upcoming general elections, can help Dr. Manmohan Singh in that quest.

The Great Indian Tamasha begins....

In a couple of weeks the Great Indian Tamasha will begin.... It's not a circus I am talking about. It's the dance of democracy - the general elections is what I am talking about.

A few days back we were at the center of the world stage at the G-20 summit in London. The whole world is today looking at us, alongwith China, in the hope that we, perhaps the only growing economies, would pull back the world from the brink of financial Armageddon. As a resurgent nation, we went about telling the world that we would (yes, it's true) contribute to IMF, rather than borrow from it. Who could have imagined this in 1991, when Dr. Manmohan Singh pledged India's gold reserves for valuable foreign exchange?

Tomorrow, the elections will be on us. The question we are faced with is whether the resurgent momentum would be sustained after the elections or not?

Who would be voted in, is the big question today. With limited choices, I am looking at selecting the party to vote for by elimination.

Among the choices we have are the behenji, the comrades, the so called "knicker-walas" and the topiwala Congressmen.

We certainly cannot afford to have behenji at the helm of affairs - the whole law and order system would then be turned in an organised system of collecting loot for her birthday.

The comrades would close all of India's frontiers, except one - the Northern one. The Chinese would in all probability annex India as they did with Tibet, with the comrades playing ball. We cannot let them be a part of the of the government.

The choice boils down to essentially two options - the BJP or the Congress.

While I agree with some of the issues that the BJP has long advocated, e.g., stronger foreign and security policy, modernisation of defence forces, evolving strategic partnerships with both Israel and the United States, abrogation of Article 370 and adoption of a Uniform Civil Code, I feel, today, after Mr. Vajpayee ceded control of the party to Mr. Advani, they have not only lost allies but more importantly, also lost focus.

BJP may not be a dynastic organisation but it doesn't have a credible leadership today. Mr. Advani seems like an old man in a hurry who appears to be too eager to become the Prime Minister at least once, before he is forced to retire from politics. He is projecting himself as a muscular candidate with lots of promises on security and likes of it all, but we musn't forget he could not prevent the release of militants in exchange for the release of militants at Kandahar, one of India's saddest moments in history after the 1962 debacle.

He is trying to project himself as India's Obama, reaching out to Indian netizens. But the important question that I ask is whether he has the means to bring the vision to reality. He certainly does not have a A-team to realise this vision.

Two, BJP's idealistic principles of the early 2000s seem have to given way to rag-tag policies, without a concrete vision that a budding superpower should have. I don't see any vision for the next 50-years emanating out of the BJP.

Today, their view is lopsided - take the nuclear deal for instance - an issue based support to the UPA would have finished off the Left and could have reduced support for the so called 3rd front, paving the way for a two-party system, which would have brought a lot of stability to the political system. BJP's stand on the nuclear deal left a lot to be desired, baffled many BJP insiders (Mr. Brijesh Mishra being one such BJP member, who actually said that the deal was good for India and the BJP would have signed the deal had they been in power) and personally left me disappointed and saddened.

Let us admit it, gone are the days of Mr. Vajpayee. His immense goodwill has been squandered by Mr. Advani and his team, by their constant in-fighting and intra-party bickering. If things stay the way they are, the BJP may fade away into political oblivion, unless of course, Mr. Narendra Modi is able to shift to the Centre.

I must further admit that I am no fan of the Congress either. Like many others, I somehow detest the thought of a pasta-eating foreigner leading India's oldest political party. With all the sycophancy, dynastic leadership style and rampant corruption within the Congress, there is a lot to be desired. No one can forget how the man-slaughter of Sikhs in 1984, had de-facto sanction of the Congress. And to top it all, when the perpetrators of the crime get an acquittal, the party's commitment to justice is questioned.

However, with Dr. Manmohan Singh at helm, the Congress has indeed shown some signs of a commitment to moving forward, consistently and decisively. The nuclear deal and reactions to 26/11 do show that Dr. Singh's A-team, comprising of Mr. Chidambaram and Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, does mean business.

A netizen once had argued with me saying that the Congress is lacking leaders. There is nobody to replace Mr. Chidambaram as Finance Minister, at a time when the world is facing the worst economic crisis in our living memories. He went on to say that our Prime Minister, who is fighting with his health, is playing multiple roles. He went to question how Sonia could lead the party.

My counter argument is that despite not having a full time Finance Minister, we have fared well on the economic front. And Dr. Manmohan Singh's A-team did hold the fort very well while he was away. Let's not forget, as opposed to the BJP, the Congress, today does have quite a few youth leaders who can step in if required.

It is obvious, that today, we as a nation are at cross-roads. The choices we make today will define how the India of tomorrow shapes the future of the world. The Congress, with Dr. Manmohan Singh seems to be our best bet.

At this point, I am reminded of Rahul Gandhi's powerful speech in the Parliament during the debate on the confidence vote on the nuclear issue on July 22, 2008, where he said that a powerful country thinks of how it can impact the world, whereas the not-so-powerful country of how the world would impact it.

Dr. Manmohan Singh's has in the last one year just done that - thinking of how India can impact the world, in imparting financial stability and achieving a secure neighbourhood. He sure does deserve another chance to make a difference to the world.

And we as players in the Great Indian Tamasha, i.e. as voters in the upcoming general elections, can help Dr. Manmohan Singh in that quest.

The Great Indian Tamasha begins....

In a couple of weeks the Great Indian Tamasha will begin.... It's not a circus I am talking about. It's the dance of democracy - the general elections is what I am talking about.

A few days back we were at the center of the world stage at the G-20 summit in London. The whole world is today looking at us, alongwith China, in the hope that we, perhaps the only growing economies, would pull back the world from the brink of financial Armageddon. As a resurgent nation, we went about telling the world that we would (yes, it's true) contribute to IMF, rather than borrow from it. Who could have imagined this in 1991, when Dr. Manmohan Singh pledged India's gold reserves for valuable foreign exchange?

Tomorrow, the elections will be on us. The question we are faced with is whether the resurgent momentum would be sustained after the elections or not?

Who would be voted in, is the big question today. With limited choices, I am looking at selecting the party to vote for by elimination.

Among the choices we have are the behenji, the comrades, the so called "knicker-walas" and the topiwala Congressmen.

We certainly cannot afford to have behenji at the helm of affairs - the whole law and order system would then be turned in an organised system of collecting loot for her birthday.

The comrades would close all of India's frontiers, except one - the Northern one. The Chinese would in all probability annex India as they did with Tibet, with the comrades playing ball. We cannot let them be a part of the of the government.

The choice boils down to essentially two options - the BJP or the Congress.

While I agree with some of the issues that the BJP has long advocated, e.g., stronger foreign and security policy, modernisation of defence forces, evolving strategic partnerships with both Israel and the United States, abrogation of Article 370 and adoption of a Uniform Civil Code, I feel, today, after Mr. Vajpayee ceded control of the party to Mr. Advani, they have not only lost allies but more importantly, also lost focus.

BJP may not be a dynastic organisation but it doesn't have a credible leadership today. Mr. Advani seems like an old man in a hurry who appears to be too eager to become the Prime Minister at least once, before he is forced to retire from politics. He is projecting himself as a muscular candidate with lots of promises on security and likes of it all, but we musn't forget he could not prevent the release of militants in exchange for the release of militants at Kandahar, one of India's saddest moments in history after the 1962 debacle.

He is trying to project himself as India's Obama, reaching out to Indian netizens. But the important question that I ask is whether he has the means to bring the vision to reality. He certainly does not have a A-team to realise this vision.

Two, BJP's idealistic principles of the early 2000s seem have to given way to rag-tag policies, without a concrete vision that a budding superpower should have. I don't see any vision for the next 50-years emanating out of the BJP.

Today, their view is lopsided - take the nuclear deal for instance - an issue based support to the UPA would have finished off the Left and could have reduced support for the so called 3rd front, paving the way for a two-party system, which would have brought a lot of stability to the political system. BJP's stand on the nuclear deal left a lot to be desired, baffled many BJP insiders (Mr. Brijesh Mishra being one such BJP member, who actually said that the deal was good for India and the BJP would have signed the deal had they been in power) and personally left me disappointed and saddened.

Let us admit it, gone are the days of Mr. Vajpayee. His immense goodwill has been squandered by Mr. Advani and his team, by their constant in-fighting and intra-party bickering. If things stay the way they are, the BJP may fade away into political oblivion, unless of course, Mr. Narendra Modi is able to shift to the Centre.

I must further admit that I am no fan of the Congress either. Like many others, I somehow detest the thought of a pasta-eating foreigner leading India's oldest political party. With all the sycophancy, dynastic leadership style and rampant corruption within the Congress, there is a lot to be desired. No one can forget how the man-slaughter of Sikhs in 1984, had de-facto sanction of the Congress. And to top it all, when the perpetrators of the crime get an acquittal, the party's commitment to justice is questioned.

However, with Dr. Manmohan Singh at helm, the Congress has indeed shown some signs of a commitment to moving forward, consistently and decisively. The nuclear deal and reactions to 26/11 do show that Dr. Singh's A-team, comprising of Mr. Chidambaram and Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, does mean business.

A netizen once had argued with me saying that the Congress is lacking leaders. There is nobody to replace Mr. Chidambaram as Finance Minister, at a time when the world is facing the worst economic crisis in our living memories. He went on to say that our Prime Minister, who is fighting with his health, is playing multiple roles. He went to question how Sonia could lead the party.

My counter argument is that despite not having a full time Finance Minister, we have fared well on the economic front. And Dr. Manmohan Singh's A-team did hold the fort very well while he was away. Let's not forget, as opposed to the BJP, the Congress, today does have quite a few youth leaders who can step in if required.

It is obvious, that today, we as a nation are at cross-roads. The choices we make today will define how the India of tomorrow shapes the future of the world. The Congress, with Dr. Manmohan Singh seems to be our best bet.

At this point, I am reminded of Rahul Gandhi's powerful speech in the Parliament during the debate on the confidence vote on the nuclear issue on July 22, 2008, where he said that a powerful country thinks of how it can impact the world, whereas the not-so-powerful country of how the world would impact it.

Dr. Manmohan Singh's has in the last one year just done that - thinking of how India can impact the world, in imparting financial stability and achieving a secure neighbourhood. He sure does deserve another chance to make a difference to the world.

And we as players in the Great Indian Tamasha, i.e. as voters in the upcoming general elections, can help Dr. Manmohan Singh in that quest.