I must confess whatever faith I had in our government has evaporated completely. Until last afternoon I was a benign onlooker emitting an occasional scream in disbelief and horror as I watched on TV or read in many a newspaper the utter and total chaos that Common Wealth Games 2010 has come to signify. Poking fun at our collective selves or letting out steam on the twitter by way of inane and insignificant tweets.
I read the following articles in Times of India and Hindustan Times. This got me going and could not restrain myself from putting together this blog.
1. Much good from a bad Games : India : M J Akbar : TOI Blogs http://t.co/HvjPUpP via @timesofindia.
2. Old India has failed New India, again: Vir Sanghvi - Hindustan Times http://t.co/IC9S7he via @AddThis
The stark contrast of content and intent is thought provoking.
Mr. M.J. Akbar concludes his article “A friend pointed out that we have only now begun to notice what happened some time ago: the CIA has taken over India. The CIA provides the core inner ring which pumps blood into the heart of the current ruling class of our country. CIA is: Corrupt Incompetent Arrogant. There is only one reason China is ahead of India; because it is run by the CPC: Corrupt, Perverse but Competent.”
The journalistic competence and ability of this accomplished Journalist makes it a pleasure to read his thoughts and views on the ongoing fiasco called CWG.
Mr. Vir Sanghvi concludes his piece “In 1980, Indira Gandhi recognised that the Asian Games would be a fiasco unless the government got involved at the highest level. Rajiv Gandhi oversaw the preparations, deadlines were kept, the infrastructure survives till today and the Games served as an advertisement for India.But what this government has given us is a complete repudiation of Rajiv’s legacy. The preparations have been handed over to people like Suresh Kalmadi and when ministers have got involved, the task has been left to incompetent windbags. Nor has there been any attempt to find an alternative private sector model.”
This formulation makes your stomach churn in total disgust at the level of superficiality and sycophancy exuded by this individual. The focus is on what has been attempted to be projected by this author.
Mr.Sanghvi wants us to believe that India is in a perpetual state of conflict.
“These days we hear a lot about the clash of the two Indias — the India of the villages vs the India of the cities; deprived India vs shining India, etc. This conflict is undeniable but we are neglecting another clash between two other Indias which is subtler but no less significant. The unprecedented level of public anger over the screw-ups in the preparations of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) can be best understood if we see it as a clash between two Indias.”
He stops miday after alluding to M.S.Gill the Minister for Sports his age and background. Overlooking the fact that the responsibility goes right to the top; that is the Prime Minister who happens to be senior by a couple of years, and shares the background with Mr M.S.Gill.
All this while he conveniently overlooks the fact that there is a very heavy imprint of the presiding deity of Congress party in appointing the PM and the Sports Minister. The blame for the ongoing unparalleled accrual of indignity and shame is the net result of poor decision making and total inert state of government in India.
The much maligned old India that is being used as an alibi to gloss over our present predicament is an enduring gift from our first Prime Minister and it is his legacy which is being carried forward. We do hear and read on a daily basis the GDP growth and the ever north ward movement of sensex. These have been touted as the two great beacons of performance of our Government. Nothing could be further from truth than the above two symbols.
On one end of the spectrum are the exploits and achievements of entrepreneurial India, where many an achiever is in the age group as our Prime Minister or Minister for Sports. It is not the age that matters; it is the ability, dedication and conviction for the cause that is defining and makes India shine. One India is producing results on a daily basis which pose challenge to the largest and most ambitious economies and people on this planet. Where as those who are appropriating these successes as their own are in fact squandering away in most disdainful manner the hard earned monies, image and goodwill.
Let the author not exonerate Government, Congress party or its high command by singling out a few individuals, who for all practical purpose hold their current position with the unambiguous blessings of the powers that be of the Congress Party. We should not shy away from facts and candidly admit that governance in India is non existent under the present dispensation. Glaring examples are placed to refresh malfunctioning memory cells, and cure selective amnesia. 2G spectrum scam, rotting food grains 60,000mt, 37% Indians below poverty line, ever proliferating slums in our metros, naxal violence and of course last but not the least Kashmir.
Objective was to showcase India, we have achieved the converse. Let me conclude we the people of this country are indignant in extreme, with all the might at our disposal do repudiate this image. This could be the image of our government and congress party. this is not of us and our country.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Idiom "All is fair in love and war" reconstructed by media
“All is fair in love and war.” This is how we know the idiom! A new dimension has been added by the mainstream English media, expanded version reads as “All is fair in love, war and politics.”
"The starlight is not there for Modi " By Mr.Pankaj Vohra in Hindustan Times of 19th Sept 2010 is the motivating factor for this latest blog.
Undoubtedly, Congress, RJD, LJP and the friendly mainstream English media would want to present us a picture favorable to their formulations. Yet if Bihar has been reclaimed from the Jurassic park where it had been firmly placed by RJD-Congress combine the credit must be placed at the doorsteps of NDA government.
Chinks in the NDA are not visible, need for that is urgent, so why not employ fiction and manufacture a few if not a whole lot of them.
Election time debates will move away from Secular Vs Communal if and only if the media permits it. While nobody tires of stating that India has moved on yet the shackles of this paradigm are not being allowed to be shed.
In a democratic setup more than one aspirant for the top job does not amount to anarchy or dissensions within the party or a coalition. Yes it may seem so to all those who are followers of Congress party and its peculiar brand of democracy.
Pyramid is narrowest at the top and only a select few reach the pinnacle. It is a puerile argument that minority support for Bihar government is due to Mr. Nitish Kumar, he is not a one man army, BJP does have its ministers in that government and are holding portfolios of significance unless ofcourse in your opinion that is unimportant.
Bihar and Gujarat are the 2 best performing states of this country among many others, incidentally all of these have BJP or NDA Governments in place, benefits of the development are not being regulated in a manner that the effects are limited to any particular community; recent result of by elections in Gujarat is a testimony to that. Ayub Chauhan, 35, is one of the Muslim voters of Kathlal constituency in Central Gujarat who voted for the BJP. It's for the first time BJP won the Assembly constituency and Chauhan does not want to be left out of Gujarat's development story being scripted by Modi."We thought it's our Congress and kept voting for it. But the BJP is in Gujarat and everybody is benefiting. We thought why we should be left out," said Ayub Chauhan. This is as reported by CNNIBN Modi on a high after winning in Cong bastion
Why the media wishes to stay in its time warp of 2002 events? Mainstream English media is not the sole opinion maker in this country, vernacular press can be ignored at your own peril; besides word of mouth is far more effective, with a deeper reach and longer duration. Can it be denied that people of these 2 states are moving for employment from one to the other, will not NDA highlight its achievement with statistical data?
2014 is fair distance away, performance of all the aspirant over the next 3 years or so will determine who would get to the coveted office of the Prime Minister.
Somehow the irony of this article is the severe indictment of UPA. Deficiency in legitimacy of the incumbent UPA and Prime Minister is so stark that could not help noticing it “ As per the Westminster model, which we follow, the leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj should be treated as the shadow prime minister.”
"The starlight is not there for Modi " By Mr.Pankaj Vohra in Hindustan Times of 19th Sept 2010 is the motivating factor for this latest blog.
Undoubtedly, Congress, RJD, LJP and the friendly mainstream English media would want to present us a picture favorable to their formulations. Yet if Bihar has been reclaimed from the Jurassic park where it had been firmly placed by RJD-Congress combine the credit must be placed at the doorsteps of NDA government.
Chinks in the NDA are not visible, need for that is urgent, so why not employ fiction and manufacture a few if not a whole lot of them.
Election time debates will move away from Secular Vs Communal if and only if the media permits it. While nobody tires of stating that India has moved on yet the shackles of this paradigm are not being allowed to be shed.
In a democratic setup more than one aspirant for the top job does not amount to anarchy or dissensions within the party or a coalition. Yes it may seem so to all those who are followers of Congress party and its peculiar brand of democracy.
Pyramid is narrowest at the top and only a select few reach the pinnacle. It is a puerile argument that minority support for Bihar government is due to Mr. Nitish Kumar, he is not a one man army, BJP does have its ministers in that government and are holding portfolios of significance unless ofcourse in your opinion that is unimportant.
Bihar and Gujarat are the 2 best performing states of this country among many others, incidentally all of these have BJP or NDA Governments in place, benefits of the development are not being regulated in a manner that the effects are limited to any particular community; recent result of by elections in Gujarat is a testimony to that. Ayub Chauhan, 35, is one of the Muslim voters of Kathlal constituency in Central Gujarat who voted for the BJP. It's for the first time BJP won the Assembly constituency and Chauhan does not want to be left out of Gujarat's development story being scripted by Modi."We thought it's our Congress and kept voting for it. But the BJP is in Gujarat and everybody is benefiting. We thought why we should be left out," said Ayub Chauhan. This is as reported by CNNIBN Modi on a high after winning in Cong bastion
Why the media wishes to stay in its time warp of 2002 events? Mainstream English media is not the sole opinion maker in this country, vernacular press can be ignored at your own peril; besides word of mouth is far more effective, with a deeper reach and longer duration. Can it be denied that people of these 2 states are moving for employment from one to the other, will not NDA highlight its achievement with statistical data?
2014 is fair distance away, performance of all the aspirant over the next 3 years or so will determine who would get to the coveted office of the Prime Minister.
Somehow the irony of this article is the severe indictment of UPA. Deficiency in legitimacy of the incumbent UPA and Prime Minister is so stark that could not help noticing it “ As per the Westminster model, which we follow, the leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj should be treated as the shadow prime minister.”
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Congress friendly media propounds three new myths.
A couple of weeks back our Prime Minister met with a select group of editors, described by many as a rare occurrence. He is a man of few words; reticence is his strength so we are told. Post that meeting as expected there were some new facts uncovered, or should one say 3 important new discoveries made.
This is at best left in the realm of fiction that the media is creating, naturally with its power and reach, the media has enormous influence over the collective psyche of the people. This enormous influence ensures that the sentiment is always controlled -- mostly favorably, but if need be negatively -- by sections of the media. There can be nothing further from truth than the below supposition it is indeed ingenious, yet would be extremely hard to digest.
"He had a mandate to be prime minister for five years especially because he was projected as the PM candidate during the 2009 parliamentary poll" This is the second point that political analyst believe the PM was trying to deliver. There is a phrase "Basking in reflected Glory" now a new phrase has been added to our vocabulary and that is reflected mandate, by means of this one could legitimize holding any constitutional office in India, and it could possibly also become heredity using the same logic PM's wife hence why not the next PM.
There is a serious deficiency of legitimacy in this our incumbent PM’s case.
Third point, “by citing examples of Morarji and Sardar Patel, both deputy prime ministers, he pre-empted any possible move to appoint a deputy PM.” This has been very adequately dealt with by Mr. M.J.Akbar in his article “Memo to PM: Ego is unflattering” dated 12th sept 2010 in Times of India needless to repeat here.
This is the first point as per the political analysts. “One was that there was nothing wrong with his government and if there was any perception about things not being in control it was because of elements within the party”
The questions that we have are, what is right with this Government?
1.Food Price are they in check…No the PM has been unable to exert and display his prowess in the area of his core competence.
2. The PM for effect may issue a statement negating the directive from the Supreme Court of India; fact of the matter is food grains are rotting nearly 60,000mt. While this country has nearly 400million people who are starving and this grain could have easily helped their cause.
3.Corruption…Again the answer is in the negative..It has reached unprecedented levels under his very nose. 2G telecom scam, CWG, and Mining etc more may be uncovered as we go along.
4.Internal security…… negative.
5.External security….. negative
6. Foreign policy……..abject failure needless to recount all the past events.
What good is a brilliant master when all pupil fail? What good is policeman if crime continuously increases? What good is general under whose command the territorial integrity is lost?
It is perhaps time to stop flaunting personal honesty and unimpeachable integrity of our PM as the fulcrum of this government, when clearly all is not well with it.
Finally it is an established fact that he has been appointed and not elected to the post of PM. In our model of democracy Convention and written Laws have an equal weightage. The Prime Minister in our scheme of democracy is a directly elected representative of the people of this country. A Prime Minister from Rajya Sabha is legal as per statuette, however is in contravention of the convention that the Prime Minister should be from the largest party block in Lok Sabha.
This is at best left in the realm of fiction that the media is creating, naturally with its power and reach, the media has enormous influence over the collective psyche of the people. This enormous influence ensures that the sentiment is always controlled -- mostly favorably, but if need be negatively -- by sections of the media. There can be nothing further from truth than the below supposition it is indeed ingenious, yet would be extremely hard to digest.
"He had a mandate to be prime minister for five years especially because he was projected as the PM candidate during the 2009 parliamentary poll" This is the second point that political analyst believe the PM was trying to deliver. There is a phrase "Basking in reflected Glory" now a new phrase has been added to our vocabulary and that is reflected mandate, by means of this one could legitimize holding any constitutional office in India, and it could possibly also become heredity using the same logic PM's wife hence why not the next PM.
There is a serious deficiency of legitimacy in this our incumbent PM’s case.
Third point, “by citing examples of Morarji and Sardar Patel, both deputy prime ministers, he pre-empted any possible move to appoint a deputy PM.” This has been very adequately dealt with by Mr. M.J.Akbar in his article “Memo to PM: Ego is unflattering” dated 12th sept 2010 in Times of India needless to repeat here.
This is the first point as per the political analysts. “One was that there was nothing wrong with his government and if there was any perception about things not being in control it was because of elements within the party”
The questions that we have are, what is right with this Government?
1.Food Price are they in check…No the PM has been unable to exert and display his prowess in the area of his core competence.
2. The PM for effect may issue a statement negating the directive from the Supreme Court of India; fact of the matter is food grains are rotting nearly 60,000mt. While this country has nearly 400million people who are starving and this grain could have easily helped their cause.
3.Corruption…Again the answer is in the negative..It has reached unprecedented levels under his very nose. 2G telecom scam, CWG, and Mining etc more may be uncovered as we go along.
4.Internal security…… negative.
5.External security….. negative
6. Foreign policy……..abject failure needless to recount all the past events.
What good is a brilliant master when all pupil fail? What good is policeman if crime continuously increases? What good is general under whose command the territorial integrity is lost?
It is perhaps time to stop flaunting personal honesty and unimpeachable integrity of our PM as the fulcrum of this government, when clearly all is not well with it.
Finally it is an established fact that he has been appointed and not elected to the post of PM. In our model of democracy Convention and written Laws have an equal weightage. The Prime Minister in our scheme of democracy is a directly elected representative of the people of this country. A Prime Minister from Rajya Sabha is legal as per statuette, however is in contravention of the convention that the Prime Minister should be from the largest party block in Lok Sabha.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)