INCREDIBE INDIA

Today i was sitting in my gallery as i use to sit tere everyday an today was no differerent........ was it so really ........ oh yes ! it was a bit ... as i was sitting there i came to see a banner hanging from both the corners an greeting everyone entering the gully..... "vishal hindu sammelan", this was the sentence which acquired my attention.... in the past i have seen many a banner and hoardings like this bbut never had a thought or better say i never stopped to have a relook at it.. then why today?.. this was the question i was asking to myself.. may be because i now alike others have started thinking or just wanna project myself as an intellectual.. watever may be the reason...... there was something i found really untolerable.... this country despite making its presence in the 21st century world is still struck to its hypocracy if nothing else.. i wonder why just a "vishal hindu sammelan" y not a " maha bhartiya sammelan"... why do we need a communal base/support... i would have been pleased had the sammelan of these kind ever had benefitted any of us..... these are just power game and nothing else... why are we making ourselves a victim of communalism.. these thoughts ran through my mind while i kept looking at the banner with a sadhujee asking to be present at the do in large numbers to make rthe sammelan a success.. i have no doubt that the sammelan would be a success but who is going to win .... the answer is an emphatic, NONE OF US......

state elections set the tone for the general elections

THE MUCH-awaited and anticipated result of the so-called semi-final of the political battle between the two largest national parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress is out. This fight was the penultimate clash between the parties before reaching out to the masses in the next general elections scheduled for early next year. Both the parties left no stone unturned to market themselves and become the popular choice ahead of the major battle. The semi-final has been a mixed bag for both the parties. For some candidates it has been a Christmas gift, where the voters played Santa while for others, it has been an opportunity to take a re-look at their strategies, before going for a political Holi. With a tie in the semis, in the four Hindi-speaking states and with the score level at two each, the Congress has an edge having bagged Mizoram where it won 32 seats out of 40. In the 2003 elections Congress managed only 12. This will really boost the morale of the Congress top brass. The BJP should be happy too because it has overcome the anti-incumbency factor in Madhya- Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP won 143 out of 230 seats, 30 below the 2003 mark. This should be a wake-up call for the BJP as the major gainer here is the Congress with 70 seats - a rise of 32 seats from the 2003 elections. In Chhattisgarh, the BJP managed 50 seats out of 90, the same as in 2003. This shows that the very popular Raman-effect has been a success with the masses. Also, the Rs 3 per Kg of rice under the public distribution scheme (PDS) has been widely appreciated. Before the elections, Dr Raman Singh was accused of being the chief minister of just 665 regions of Chhattisgarh, the rest being Naxal-affected. Also, corruption was a key issue during his tenure, which he promised to look into after his win. On the other hand, Congress was not considered the hot favourite because of the rocketing inflation and back-to-back terror attacks. But their win in Rajasthan and Delhi has been a morale booster and given them some time to plan for the next D-Day. In Rajasthan, the Congress won 96 out of the 200 seats - five short of the majority required to form the government. For the five seats needed, they are optimistic of enrolling the support of independents (14). Here, the fall of Vasundhra Raje and the phoenix-like rise of Congress is popularly credited to caste-based politics and the BJP’s failure to handle the Gujjar-Meena outburst. The BJP has registered a sharp downfall from the 2003 elections. In 2003, the BJP won 120 while in 2008 it managed only 78- a huge difference of 42 seats. However, Delhi was in the spotlight. Both the parties used all the weapons at their disposal to capture Delhi. BJP campaigned with their star campaigner Narendra Modi and the PM-in-waiting, LK Advani while the Congress moved ahead with its youth-led campaign, with Rahul Gandhi leading from the front and showcasing the Congress-led development projects. With the not-so-popular VK Malhotra as their candidate for the top job in Delhi, BJP won a mere 23 out of the 69 seats. Congress bagged 42 and the BSP, 2. It was assumed that the Maya factor could thwart Dixit’s next term but the results ruled out any such possibility. However, BSP has reasons to cheer up. The party bagged 14 per cent of the votes polled, according to estimates. As of now, the political dust has settled but it will be interesting to see how the voters react in the general election. In the state elections, regional factors matter most. But in the Lok Sabha elections, national issues take the centre stage. With both the parties ending on a satisfactory note the preparations for the next battle will definitely involve a lot of brain-storming for all the parties including the BSP, which is widely viewed as the kingmaker. As Winston Churchill said, “Politics is too serious a business to be left to the Generals.” Hence, the political bigwigs need to come out with concrete plans for the next round of clash in the finals before settling down after the recent semis.

THE POLITICS OF TERROR

THE POLITICS OF TERROR As, Terrorism is a continuation of war by other means and war is the continuation of politics by other means, the terror led war by our neighbor is the result of our fledgling political will power. It’s high time we said, “India is a victim of war in form of terrorism”. Now, its time to realize the truth and face it in a true spirit. Yes, we are a victim of a terror led war, but not the way we perceive it. Terrorism is something which we use to cover the reality. The reality which we are yet to come to terms with. The fact lies beneath this all artificial hue and cry. The denied truth is, we are a victim of a dirty politics and a corrupt system. It’s said that, ‘politics is a dirty game’. Now we realize why it is so. Despite the continued terror attacks we have faced and the innumerable casualty this country has witnessed, probably the most in the world, we are unable to trace the breeding ground and book the culprit. Our ‘me/mine first’ politics is to blame for all these terror strikes and related problems we face today. Since, after the independence, more or less none of the political parties, who came to power, showed willingness to eradicate this problem for once and all. They just tried to cash in on this issue by luring the voters, both sentimentally and emotionally. After the independence, for a continuous 30 years the grand old party of India, congress, lead the north block with lack of efficiency, clear mindset and the absence the willingness, which led to the nourishment of this yet to be healed wound. Congress always talked of solving the Kashmir issue through the so-called ‘bilateral talks’ but in their leadership, India always remain a mere spectator and a victim of extremism in the name of jihad. It’s an untold but well understood truth that the ‘secularism’ of this party cost India its peace and fraternity. While after 1977, when the Janata party came into power, it was a popular feeling that they will show some maturity in solving this core issue which prompts our neighbor to destabilize us through various means. But the Janata Party too played a no-different role. With its HINDUTVA agenda and Ram Mandir, it garnered many supporters but compromised India’s integrity and furthered the British cause of divide and rule. They glued to their new found glory and publicity but forgot to defend the external intrusion. And their hard work of divisive politics rubbed salt to the already wounded Indian soil by further fragmenting us into two sections of Hindus and Muslims. The Bharatiya Janata party (after its divide) left no stone unturned in fuelling hatred amongst us in the name of spreading the National culture. As, terrorism is the continuation of war by other means, war is the continuation of politics by other means. Our ill-feted politics is the sole cause to blame for all these. After a few endeavor even a spider learn how to web but our politicians are yet to learn any lesion from it and so are their policies. Our policies have always been defensive and not offensive, which is sometimes good. But it’s just not acceptable to defend after the damage is done. Prevention is better than cure but defending after an attack is meaningless. Our policy should be to safeguard us from any external aggression beforehand and if someone crosses the line he must be replied in the same language. Enough paper work and diplomatic dialogues have been said and done. Now its time to say, if you want it so have it. Its time to say Indians first in place of me/mine first. Apart from the willingness of our politicians, the reason behind the amateur defense mechanism and lack of counter terror doctrine, are the outdated politicos. They might be outdated because of their thinking capacity and will power but definitely not because of their age, at least because as they seem reluctant to give away the throne to the younger generation. They are good at making speeches and show statistics but when it comes to action, they are helpless. They might be no more willing to defend us but always willing to stick to the chair and make larger than life promises same as a bollywood actor does. And thus their greed for the chair has made them the most distinct creature on the earth, which is not going to extinct in the near future.