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...

What a welcome for 2011!!!!!

A new year dawned upon us a few days back.

As always, we made resolutions for the year to come, we had high hopes, hopes for brighter and better future.

But the realities with which 2011 has dawned upon us does make me feel a bit gloomy. That's not how a great new year should be.

The most intriguing news I heard around this time was the closure of the Aarushi murder case by the Central Bureau of Investigation, despite calling her father a prime suspect. If he still is a prime suspect how could the case be closed? Were the sleuths really facing a wall or was the closure a premeditated move? Only the Central Bureau of Intrigue (an apt description by Nana Chudasama) or God can tell. Perhaps we will never get to know the truth behind the murder most foul.

Radia-gate hogged the limelight for the last few weeks. And now the airwaves maintain a complete Radia-silence on the issue! As one would have guaged from the leaks, there seems to have been a clear attempt to paint Mr. Ratan Tata in a poor light.

Now the tapping of Radia's phone was done at the behest of the Income Tax Department. The tapes were supposed to be in their custody. They could not have been leaked out without the nod of some bigwigs in the bureaucracy or political system. At whose behest? Perhaps, some competitor?

Or is this a deliberate attempt of the government to muzzle India Inc., to coerce them, to silence them into treading the road that the political system shows them, some what like the way the regime in Russia under Putin, threatened oligarchs like Mikhail Khodorkovsky?

We may never ever know the truth, as the media is a part of the gameplan. But what I know for sure is that Mr. Tata is cleaner than a whole lot of businessmen we see around.

And now, for the last few days, onions are in fashion on text messages, Twitter and mail forwards. We ourselves bought 2 kilos of bulbs the other day for Rs. 120. But news reports spoke of onions being priced at Rs. 90 a kilo. Other vegetables are also atrociously priced. That reminds me of what Marie Antoinette said about the French public before she was beheaded "Let them have cake!" So, is Mr. Pawar trying to say "Let them have chicken", for chicken is cheaper than a lot of vegetables today?

It is indeed crazy. One of the world's fastest growing economies, an emergent superpower has inflation that kisses 20%? And no one has a clue, let alone the ability or the will to control it. The result is that we go the Zimbabwe way, when it comes to inflation.

I reserve the last few words for the sage-like, scholarly mukhauta (mask) of Indian politics, Dr. Manmohan Singh. Dr. Singh knew all along of the wrong doings in the way telecom licences were doled out. He does know the "who's" and "whys" of the inflation fiasco. But he still chooses to keep quiet. Why? God only knows what all his silence is covering up.

About 10 years back, Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was accused of being a mukhauta for the rightists, despite being one of India's most-loved leaders, but Dr. Singh's penchant for inaction makes him the true mukhauta of our times.

This is how we have entered 2011. It is not the best way to begin the new year. But it may not end up being the worst of the years after all. Let's wait and watch!

Oui, nous aimons la France!

This morning, I received a text message which joking said:

When asked why he is readily signing so many defence deals with Sarkozy,
Manmohan Singh replied "Have you seen the bomb he has brought with him. Agar
sample aisa hai to pura consignment kaisa hoga!!!"

While the joke on the Indo-French deals and Carla Bruni was funny, there are a few realities about France that makes it bit easier for others to depend on them.

France is an unusual Western nation with a mind of its own. France stood out alone among United States' prominent NATO allies that opposed the Bush wars for good reason. So much consternation was caused in the United States that french fries were rechristened Freedom Fries!

France was the lone Western nation which adopted a moderate line towards India's nuclear tests in 1998, while rest of the West bellicosely imposed sanctions on India. The French had been warm with India even when the chill of the Cold War froze the world.

People love to bash up France calling it an Islamophobe nation, but it has perhaps recognised the danger posed by militant versions of Islam and Sarkozy has sought to legislate an opening of the Islamic sections of French society, which has the potential to modernise and integrate them into the mainstream. No other Western power really had the balls to do this!!!

While France is indeed a bit rational in its use of power, it still has to be relevant in the emerging world order. And that is what brought President Nicholas Sarkozy to India, to do business, though he was quite a bit more suave than President Obama who declared that he would get 50,000 jobs from India!!!

I would not hesitate to say "Oui, nous aimons la France!"

Do 50,000 jobs today, matter?

This was so familiar.
During his visit to India, President Obama behaved like a super smart, manipulative college lass who uses the boys who swoon over her to her advantage, get them to do her homework, assignments, etc.
It is indeed true that Manmohan Singh swoons over America. Indians do admire the United States.
So his speech in the Central Hall of Parliament which was liberally peppered with references to our mythology, freedom struggle, Gandhi, Ambedkar, Chandni Chowk and a lot more was meant to sound like music to Indian ears.
The references to India's emergence as a great power were tailor-made to sweet talk India into doling out business deals.
That seems to have worked very well for Obama. Besides the deals signed by SpiceJet and Reliance Power, the press had been receiving selective leaks suggesting that POTUS' sales trip was immensely successful.
A blog on Indian defence, LiveFist, authored by a well-informed defence journalist, Shiv Aroor, recently reported that the Indian Air Force is buying an additional six C130J Super Hercules transport aircraft.
Instead of the publicly announced order for 10 C-17 Globemaster III aircraft, the Indian Air Force may just end up ordering 17. Similarly, the Indian Navy could order a few more Boeing P-8I Poseidon maritime reconnaissance aircraft.
The bottomline is that we have gifted the United States over 50,000 jobs. The salesman-in-chief, POTUS, would now expect a reasonable bonus, read: a re-election!
But 50,000 jobs do not matter for India, neither do 100,000 jobs, or for that matter 1,000,000 jobs.
What matters is whether we are able to extract the right leverage from the United States.
It is certainly true that Obama's long-winded sales spiel in Parliament does not mean anything for India. We do not need his stamp of approval to get into the United Nations Security Council. We cannot rely on the United States to solve our regional security issues, afterall the United States is no headmaster to punish an errant Pakistan. It's our job to teach the Pakistanis a lesson.
How we would get the right leverage in the United States is clear. The United States has been asking Indian corporates for investment, which was explicit in the recent visit of President Obama.

It would not matter much for India if Mr. Ratan Tata would get Jaguar Land Rover to set up a plant in Detroit or Mr. Mukesh Ambani setting up a refinery on the Gulf of Mexico.
Increased corporate investments would lead to increased transfer of technology and know how. That also has an unintended but useful consequence in the form of penetration of lobbies in Washington. Undoubtedly lobbies help, Israel has shown that well. That is the leverage we need - the ability to influence policy when so desired. That should be the strategic objective.
That means we are in it for the long haul. So 50,000 or 100,000 or even 1,000,000 jobs do not, do not matter at all in the immediate future.

Global Political Instability - Is Mars to be Blamed?

It seems we are living in crazy times.
Is it a mere coincidence that some of the biggest (or rather surprising) victors of the war of the ballot, the world over, are today down in the dumps.
Let's begin with India. Manmohan Singh was my personal favourite to lead India in last year's general elections, especially after he championed the nuclear deal and did some plain speak on the pit of hell, Pakistan. But then, after his surprise re-election, he bungled on Baluchistan, at Sharm-el-Sheikh, lost his way on inflation and his cabinet ministers today look like squabbling toddlers. Post the Sharm-el-Sheikh fiasco, Manmohan Singh looked like a guy who was very unsure of himself, extremely under confident. This is leading from one personal failure to another - talks with Pakistan being a very big, big mistake.
Barack Obama stormed into office in early 2009 riding high on a popularity wave. Well intentioned he is, I don't doubt that a bit, but his presidency is characterised by long winding spiels (they get you the Nobel Peace Prize, don't they?) with little action to follow. Within the United States, he did have a few successes on healthcare and financial regulation, but he somehow has a confused policy on Iraq and the Af-Pak region. He has tried appease the rogues of the world - China, Pakistan, North Korea, while rubbing allies like Israel and India the wrong way. Little wonder that his popularity has evaporated and approval ratings have sunk to 49% today. And the Wikileaks episode surely does not help. And now news is coming in that the Republicans are gaining ground, surely.
Nicolas Sarkozy crushed Ségolène Royal but the latest corruption scandal involving illegal election funding from the heiress of L'Oreal, Liliane Bettencourt does not help matters. His differences with Angela Merkel on the economic revival of Europe threaten the stability of the European Union. Virility with Carla Bruni is one thing, but sustaining credibility is a different ball game altogether. Hope Sarkozy realises that!
Japan's Yukio Hatoyama lead the DPJ to a decisive victory over the LDP (Indians could liken the LDP to the Congress of Japan, with over 54 years of rule?), but he too lost his way with financial scandals and his inability to keep the promise of closing an American military base in Okinawa. His unpopularity forced the DPJ to ask him to step down.
The land Down Under, Australia, isn't immune to the contagion. Kevin Rudd who was known for his infamous "orgasm with China" speech should have known orgasms do not last long, the same holds true for popularity. His popularity dipped considerably on a climate change legislation and the proposal to tax super-normal profits from mineral extraction. He ultimately had to be eased out only to be replaced by Wales born Julia Gillard, in what was called a bloodless coup by the press. It is believed that after his resignation, Rudd wept on ABC Radio. What an abrupt end to his orgasm!

What is it that is going wrong?

Perhaps, it is something as freakish as what astrology buffs in India would say - Mars has entered their planetary charts? or "कुंडली में मंगल प्रवेश कर चूका है!!!!!"

However freakish it may be, it is surely quite unsettling to see a grand political instability at the world stage.

Is this a government we deserve?

I am confused. I am totally clueless. I cannot understand what is our government's policy.
When has this government given any policy of national importance you name, any direction of any sort?
There are numerous examples to prove that the government is working aimlessly, without any direction, without the end in mind.
I sometimes wonder where the decisiveness of Prime Minister Manmohan (following the 26/11) has vanished. What does he seek to achieve by talking to Pakistan? And talks for what purpose? Why do we need to talk to state sponsors of terror, to murderers? How can we ever achieve peace by talking to those who have perfected terror as an instrument of state policy?
And the worst spectacle is that of ministers and bureaucrats bickering in public.
The spat between Digvijay Singh and Chidambaram on the Naxalite issue is shameful. Is Digvijay living in a fanciful world that he thinks the gun of terror cannot be silenced by silence and inaction and not the gun of peace?
S. M. Krishna's public castigation of the Home Secretary, G.K. Pillai, that his comments on Pakistan's official involvement in 26/11 derailed the talks was nothing but downright appalling. Isn't what Mr. Pillai said a fact?
Indian Railways is going to the dogs while Madam Minister is preparing to give all her Mamta to West Bengal. How can the Prime Minister be quiet on this and tolerate her?
The Congress seems to have lost its act and is aimlessly trying to govern the country.
Is this a government we deserve?

A Hundred Bhopals?

I knew this hullabaloo would die as fast as it was raked up.
Less than a month back, when the courts announced their verdict on the Bhopal gas tragedy, there was a great deal of public anger on what had (not) happened and why.
The media played a grand role in whipping up passions.
For nearly two weeks, all we heard were views and discussions on the matter ad nauseum. There were demands for extradition of Warren Anderson, the then head of Union Carbide in India, etc. etc.
It beats all logic to get Warren Anderson extradited. What punishment can a court mete out to a senile 90-year old? If at all a conviction is carried out, won't it be as bad as justice denied?
Another raging controversy is British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The spill threatens the fragile ecosystem of the Gulf, but did not claim thousand's of lives.
The Obama administration's response was swift and brutal.
British Petroleum has been forced to escrow USD 20 billion as a spill response fund to deal with the ecological disaster that adversely impacts the marine life and the fishing industry. The fallout could be fatal for British Petroleum - it has been forced to sell its oil fields in Alaska and itself could be bought out by Exxon-Mobil.
Compare this with the pittance of a compensation thrown out to the victims of the Bhopal tragedy.
Perhaps, the life of each fish or bird or shrimp in the Gulf of mexico is more valuable than that of each human victim in Bhopal.
Such is the irony.
Had a disaster of half the magnitude of Bhopal happened in China, the United States would have been forced to pay up.
The blame lies with our politicians of 1984 and those of today. Despite prolonged suffering of our people, Manmohan Singh did not do any tough talking with Obama on Bhopal.
Just today, there was a leakage of chlorine into the atmosphere in Sewri, Bombay. Over a hundred people had to be hospitalised.
How can hazardous industry be allowed to operate within municipal limits in a megapolis like Bombay. I know for a fact Delhi and Calcutta are no different.
Perhaps, a hundred Bhopals are waiting to happen and our government will again be caught napping.

The Sun has Risen in the East!

The G20 summit is underway in Toronto, Canada.
As the world leaders debated on the state of the global economy, it was indeed heartwarming to read about our own sardar (well intentioned pun intended), Manmohan Singh, standing tall and lecturing the so-called pundits, conscience keepers of the world on fiscal management.
Can anyone forget those days in 1991, when India was on the brink of default with foreign exchange reserves barely sufficient to meet 3 weeks of imports?

Those were very depressing times. It was a low point indeed, to hear about India pledging 67 tonnes of our gold reserves, which had to be airlifted to the Bank of England, a big psychological dent on our sovereignty.
I remember the newspapers of those days made for a very sad reading.
We never imagined then that the high and mighty G7, as it was called then, would cease to exist as the custodian of global wealth.
G7 became the G8 and in its present avatar is the G20 today, while the G8 lives on as a relic of the past, an aging and toothless tiger.
This is reflective not only of the shift of the centre of gravity to the east, primarily India and China, but also of India's ability to grow despite indifferent governance. The scenario was succinctly described by Gurcharan Das when he said "The economy grows at night when the government is asleep".
We have grown this far without a significant contribution from the system.
But the challenge is managing the transition to the centre stage of the world, from the fringes of the world economy. And we cannot meet this challenge without building robust governance structures within the country.
The sun has risen in the east and it's our time to make hay while the sun shines. Will we?

Dealing with Pakistan - Homeopathy v/s Chemotherapy

Is the Indian state coming of age?
Perhaps, we are seeing the beginning of a change in the way the country thinks.
I believe this change is very well manifested in the statement of Judge M.L. Tahiliyani's conviction of Amir Ajmal Kasab.
He said "Every man who wages war against India forfeits his life to the Indian state."
This is a far cry from the so called Gandhian philosophy of peace and non-violence. Had Gandhi been alive today, who knows he may have opened the country's borders, made more CSTs, Taj's, Oberoi's and Nariman Houses to Jihadis, hoping this may bring about a change of heart in them.
India has for years tried to follow this Gandhian philosophy in our approach to Pakistan. Each time India failed.
Perhaps now India believes we can't afford the Gandhi's utopian concepts any more. They have cost us years of progress and development, years of lack of focus and trillions of dollars in lost GDP.
But still, people like Manmohan Singh are still trying to cling on to the old ways which have not served us well.
He is trying to talk to Pakistan again. He perhaps thinks homoeopathy is a good substitute to chemotherapy, that Obama has spoken about.
I am sure he'll fail in this attempt and the will of the people to act tough with Pakistan will prevail.

Things to Do, Before I Die....

There are things that I want to do, to complete in this lifetime, so when I kick the bucket, I have no regrets. This list has a bit of everything, from all aspects of life. Some of these, I feel, are worth dying for....

Here goes....

1. 
   
   Drive from Bombay to Goa, along the Ghats, and spend a week in Goa - a guided tour conducted by my in-house 'Goan' guide, Neeti


2. 
   
   Meet Mr. Ratan Tata in person. Thank him for all that his Group has given us


3. Join Anthony Bourdain for a culinary tour across India


4. 
   
   Open a French - Mediterranean cuisine restaurant by the waterfront - the USP would be that guests would get an opportunity to play Chef for their meals...


5. 
   
   Visit the Golden Temple, be there from dawn to dusk, engaging in sewa


6. 
   
   Drive from Delhi to Ladakh, and have my music CD collection playing in the car


7. 
   
   Buy a Volkswagen Beetle


8. 
   
   Meet Tom Hanks and Morgan Freeman in person


9. 
   
   Take parents back to Kampala and Mwinilunga for a visit. Also show Neeti where I came from


10. 
    
    Spend a week in an Israeli kibbutz, a fun filled week of work....


11. 
    
    Laze in a hammock on the slopes besides the Nakuchiataal lake in Nainital, with my favourite book


12. 
    
    Publish a compilation of my poems


13. 
    
    Hike along the Black River Gorge in Mauritius


14. 
    
    Learn French, bon jour


15. 
    
    Have a greasy porky breakfast of bacon, ham, sausages, without having the guilt of cholesterol


16. 
    
    Visit Christ the Redeemer in Rio and Machu Pichu in Peru


17. 
    
    Do a Serengeti safari


18. 
    
    Do island hopping by boat through the emerald atolls of Palau


19. 
    
    Dance and sing in the rain - perhaps somewhat like Shahid in Jab We Met, I wonder?


20. 
    
    Go on a Victoria trail - Lake Victoria followed by Victoria Falls


21. 
    
    Do a road trip across the cradle of Aryan civilisation from Turkey into Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan - rolling green hills, blue streams and an unspoilt environment


22. 
    
    See Tibet free again - visit Lhasa's Potala Palace


23. 
    
    Meet Dr. Manmohan Singh, Nelson Mandela and Dalai Lama in person


24. 
    
    Open a small farm growing organic herbs and vegetables and raising animals for milk and meat


25. 
    
    Fly in the cockpit of a Boeing 747


26. 
    
    Travel in an Ilyushin IL76 - I am in awe of this amazing beast after I saw this aircraft at Jamnagar airport


27. 
    
    Visit the Sunderbans for tiger spotting, before they vanish


28. 
    
    Feed the elegant beast, the elephant


29. 
    
    Visit the Sun Temple


30. 
    
    Meet all the people, family, friends and colleagues, who have helped shape me, all at one place for a big bash


31. 
    
    Donate my organs


32. 
    
    Learn wine making


33. 
    
    Trek in the Valley of Flowers in Uttarakhand


34. 
    
    Gorge on the Nawabi delights of Lucknow, chaats of Delhi, Vada-Pavs of Bombay (in the rain)!


35. 
    
    Observe life as it goes on in the backwaters of Kerala...

But for now, I am enjoying the rain, with nice music playing.....

Air Force One, Singh is King, etc. etc.

Air Force One is here. During an interview to CNBC earlier this week, Obama was pursued by a persistent fly. Obama reached out and swatted the fly. Fly swatting is fine, but what about swatting out the Taliban and the al Qaeda from their cave hideouts in Af-Pak? How the hell can he do that when he coolly lets out terror suspects from Guantanamo Bay into exotic locales like Bermuda, as The New York Times reported earlier this week? Perhaps, he thinks these guys deserve a paid vacation, right?



Our Prime Minister is truly a King. Without battling an eyelid, he told Zardari that terror from Pakistan has to stop. Finally someone from India had the guts to do it. Zardari apparently is so pissed off that he has decided to give the NAM summit a miss. That is what has to be done. The Prime Minister has again proved that Singh is indeed King..... But there will challenges ahead and best wishes to him to tackle the challenges that he would face ahead.

I was saddened by the off-colour jokes that our FM channels have been playing about Shiney Ahuja allegedly raping his servant. Whether it's true or not, I am not going to debate that. Rape is indeed an heinous crime, but till the accused has been proven guilty, he remains an accused. Who has thought of the trauma that the families of both the accused and the victim would be facing now? But the media in a grave display of insensitivity goes on and on ad-nauseum.

The Dream Cabinet

With the UPA firmly in a position to form a new government, I would hope they decisively push forward an agenda for a radical change in the way this nation is governed.

The choice of Cabinet ministers will be key to this. My dream cabinet would be as follows:

1. 
   
   External Affairs - Mr. Shashi Tharoor - well recognised in circles of diplomacy the world over. Articulate and suave face of India. Ex-UN insider - could push for India's bid for permanent membership of the Security Council


2. 
   
   Defence Ministry - General V.P. Malik - yes, he can be made the minister despite not being a politician. Afterall, when in 1991, Dr. Manmohan Singh was made the Finance Minister, he was nowhere close to politics and wasn't even a Congress Party member. General Malik is fine military strategist, led the Indian Army to success despite odds in the Kargil war. He knows what conflict is - General Malik is the only Army chief with artificial limbs after getting injured in combat, during the Tangail Airdrop, in the 1971 war. A fine soldier like him is required to overhaul and modernise our forces


3. 
   
   Finance Ministry - Montek Singh Ahluwalia - he has the required experience and is clued in. Knows what is required today and has a rapport with the Prime Minister


4. 
   
   Home Ministry - P. Chidambaram - he should stay on for the sake of continuity, in the course adopted post 26/11. The agenda now is building our second line of defence and internal security. A crackdown on the Naxalites should top his agenda.


5. 
   
   Education and Infrastructure - Pranab Mukherjee - a senior statesman would be required to push for education reforms. Also having handled the finance portfolio, he would appreciate the importance of infrastructure (a new ministry I propose) in building our economy.


6. 
   
   Communications and Technology - Rahul Gandhi / Jyotiraditya Scindia / Sachin Pilot or someone else from the young brigade - we need to build an e-nation and only the young can do it.

The Congress lost the opportunity the decisive mandate of 1985 elections gave them. I hope this time they make it possible to move full steam ahead. I feel this dream cabinet can make it happen.

Indian Political League - The Grand Finale

Before the elections started, I made a case for electing Dr. Manmohan Singh back as the Prime Minister in my blog post titled The Great Indian Tamasha Begins.... And, yes, I am relieved today.

For the first time since 1989, we are seeing a clarity in the voters' minds, which is reflected in clear mandate. Confusion or soul-searching (if I may say so!) of the last 20-odd years has now given way to a very clear signal that India wants political stability.

In a sense, this is a pathbreaking election for our nation.

A few days back, in one of the debates on NDTV 24x7, when strategists were debating on the possibility of a fractured verdict, the BJP's key strategist, Mr. Sudheendra Kulkarni had made an interesting remark that there only two political formations that can provide India a stable government - the NDA and the UPA. He went on to sthat BJP is prepared to support the Congress to bring about political stability. Jyotiraditya Scindia of the Congress, who was also there, acknowledged the stability aspect, but parried all questions to him on the Congress and the BJP working together. This points to clear observations - while we are gradually moving towards bipolar politics with bits and pieces of bipartisanship thrown in here and there, the politics of "untouchability" is very much there. And we can blame the Congress for that.

As mentioned in my blog The Great Indian Tamasha Begins...., BJP today is a very different animal when compared with the BJP in the Vajpayee era. The BJP will now go through a major churn, an "existential crisis" soon. Mr. L.K. Advani has already offered to resign. Mr. Narendra Modi might come to centrestage, sooner than later. But who ever leads the BJP into the next election would have to learn the art of weaving a "rainbow alliance" to remain a formidable pole opposing the UPA pole.

It is indeed heartening to see the decimation of the Left and the Behenji. There is a saying in Hindi "Jo perh hava mein jhukta nahi, voh toot jaata hai" - the tree that isn't flexible enough to bend in the wind breaks down. Winds of change have been blowing in India but the Left refused to bend. And the result is there for us to see.

Behenji till a few days back was called India's Obama simply because she comes from the underprivileged section of our society. But pragmatism calls for cultivating a positive image and weaving a web of inclusion. She has failed on both counts and be shunned and ignored to an extent that she will become a spent force in Indian politics.

Hopefully, this election would close down all the "parking lots" a terminology coined by Mr. Venkiah Naidu for the Third and the Fourth Fronts. Good riddance, I would say.

And on the Congress, it is indeed reassuring that Dr. Singh will be at the helm. He will be forming the government from a position of strength and needs to capitalise on that. Today, he doesn't have the baggage of the Left weighing on him. It's the time for him to blaze ahead with reforms - in the economic, security and defence, foreign policy, electoral, administrative spheres. I am certain Dr. Singh will consolidate his image globally as a respectable statesman. (In a sense he already is - President Obama's comments point to that.)

However, power of the extra-constitutional remote controls that have traditionally vested with the First Family needs to be kept in check. I trust Dr. Manmohan Singh to do that - he did just that before moving decisively forward with the nuclear deal. Also, the First Family needs to come clean on a number of allegations that have been made by Dr. Subramanian Swamy and Mr. S. Gurumurthy, which are explosive and serious, if true.

The Indian politician is a promiscuous species - they are ever ready to get into bed with anyone and everyone, irrespective of ideology or past-differences. I hope this election, with a decisive mandate, marks the beginning of their extinction. Hopefully in the future we'll not hear of suitcases being ferried across Lutyens' Delhi.

As the Great Indian Tamasha comes to its grand finale, we can heave a sigh of relief - we can hope to have stability for the next 5 years!

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 Tamasha will go on....

With elections nearly half-way through, The Great Indian Tamasha gets even more interesting.

These days, with the way the heat is in Bombay, my sleep is quite disturbed. But just as dawn approaches, I doze off into a deep slumber, hoping to catch a few winks before the grind. And then - 5.30 AM, my mobile phone buzzes feverishly, waking me up, in an irritating mood - guess what? It's Raj Thackeray's MNS messaging me, imploring me to vote for them. It is amazing - I am not a manoos and still they feel I have something valuable for them - my god-damn vote! Till the elections are on, I guess, I don't need my alarm - I can certainly count on Raj to wake me up.

Now I feel these guys have got afflicted by some kind of amnesia - the selective type of amnesia. Weren't they the same guys who wanted us, the non-manoos people out of the city, a few months back?

Talking of amnesia, there is another kind of amnesia which has afflicted the politicians - Laloo, the joker of the pack gave amnesia a creative twist when he said that it was the Congress which actually demolished the Babri. He may be right - the cameras must have caught Congress partymen in fancy-dress - the saffron ones, they are the masters of deception after all, right?

Coming to the grand old man in a hurry, Mr. Advani, who till November 2008, vehemently opposed the nuclear deal with the United States, suddenly said that if voted to power, he would abide by the sovereign commitment Dr. Manmohan had made. Mr. Advani, didn't you want the deal all along? It is indeed surprising that you opposed it in the first place. That Mr. Advani, is what I call taking the politics of convenience to a new level.

And Mr. Munnabhai suddenly proclaims his love for the Behenji - a love replete with offers of jhappis and pappis. Is Manyata divorcing Sanjay Dutt that he had no option but to tell the world about his lovey-dovey feelings for the Behenji? I wonder what Amar Singh and Mulayam Singh would have thought of that, given that she is their sworn-enemy of sorts.

Who can forget Mr. Karunanidhi, when he says on air that the LTTE is not a terrorist organisation. With a clean "non-terrorist" certificate from Karunanidhi, shouldn't we welcome Prabhakaran into India? Going by that logic, Pakistan is doing just the right thing.

Amidst all this cacophony, we have the Behenji, who finds that she's going unnoticed, suddenly says she deserves to be the next Prime Minister, given her background, etc. etc. Perhaps she has concluded some horsetrading deals already, that could take her home.

And shoes continue to be in fashion. A village in Uttar Pradesh had a shoe hitting practice organised recently so that they don't miss their targets the next time around. Does any one need old shoes? Please contact me, I am thinking of discarding some old shoes very soon and surely before the polls are over. I would love to donate my shoes for this noble and worthy cause!

The TRPs of the Indian Premier League are not as great - this is being attributed to this Tamasha. But they have a lot to worry - their TRPs could fall further, as the we have a couple of more weeks of this Tamasha left and it will get better by the day, as results get announced and horse-trading begins!

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.