One more bites the dust???

“I have great satisfaction that my column was accepted as a brand by many HT readers and though I received brickbats and bouquets along the 15-and-a-half years span of ‘Between Us’, I spared no effort in pursuing legitimate and level-headed journalism. I joined this paper on September 1, 1995, as a senior editor-in-charge of Delhi and the NCR after my second stint at The Times of India.”  "It’s over between us for now"   by Mr. Pankaj Vohra

I must confess I am surprised that this column has been dispensed with by Hindustan Time. No I am not going to enquire into the reasons. This is a loss for me since it was a constant source of material for at least 1 blog post every week. We have not agreed mostly in our interpretations of the political situation, Mr. Vohra is one of those very few individual who unlike other neither blocked people from commenting on his column nor on his blogs.

It was a pleasant surprise that he did respond to my comments on one of the articles that he had written. Not many have the courage to interact with their readers. He was not rude to his readers even when he disagreed at least I have not been able to find any occasion.

I wish him all the luck and hope to see him soon a new avatar. Look forward to engaging him thru blogs. Something just don’t end.

Hindustan Times is indeed missing the services of Vir Singhvi.

PM redeems his image let public be the judge!!!

                    

           

 

India is probably the only democracy in which the public has to take on the main stream English media on a daily basis if not on an hourly basis. Coupled with unprecedented levels of corruption that Congress party has perpetrated on us!

Yes we have met with limited success, we hope to continue and bring about changes in the way our country will be governed. Today’s post is in response to “PM redeems his image” by Mr. Pankaj Vohra, Hindustan Times.

“There has been an unseen, but unquestioned power which has been exercising a compulsive influence on decision-making in important matters. This compulsive influence is quite evident in the case of the appointment of the CVC. Whether in matters relating to his appointment despite his facing an incomplete enquiry or the defence of his appointment before the Supreme Court everyone from the Prime Minister downwards has been acting as if they were acting at the instance of an invisible force that could not be resisted. Such an invisible force could be only that of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi.” "The Sphinx In The Room" by Mr.B.Raman This make for interesting reading.


Hindu's editorial - “Yes, but what led to the ‘error'?”

The other interesting aspect of the article by Mr.Raman is it completely and totally debunks the claims of Mr. Pankaj Vohra. Who starts his piece as under.

“By accepting responsibility for the decision to appoint PJ Thomas as the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) following the apex court’s ruling that the appointment was illegal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has exhibited statesmanship of the highest order.” Dear Mr. Pankaj Vohra every single day there are judgments being pronounced by the courts in India and those convicted are displaying similar levels of statesmanship by accepting the verdicts of the courts of law.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has done nothing extra-ordinary that should be trumpeted in the manner that you are doing. Your actions reek of sycophancy of the highest order and also raise questions if you are indeed the replacement for disgraced Vir Sanghvi of Hindustan Times.

Images are formed and recalled according to the actions of an individual. For example Eklavya literally means ‘a person who keeps his words’. On hearing this name, the image that it conjures up in the mind’s eye is what? Most definitely not that of Manmohan Singh! 

Country is governed on the basis of actions and not by images built by PR companies or paid media reports. A compulsion and a necessity is being project as a virtue by you in the present case. Without getting into tu tu mein mein with you let us explore the various images that Dr.Manmohan Singh has, which one of these in your view has he redeemed.

1. Dr Manmohan Singh premiership suffers from an acute deficiency of legitimacy. Simply because he is not a popular choice and has not contested or won an election. “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.” These are your words in  "The starlight is not there for Modi " in Hindustan Times of 19th Sept 2010. Which clearly establish that the Prime Minister should be an elected representative of the people from Lok Sabha. 

2. He is not in control of his Cabinet.

3. He has not selected his team of Ministers.

4. Decisions are first taken at 10Janpath he merely works to implement them.

5. Dr. Manmohan Singh is the weakest Prime Minister of India till date.

6. Dr. Manmohan Singh heads the most corrupt Government in Independent India. "This is the most dishonest govt ever:" Jaitley   

7. Dr. Manmohan Singh has failed India as an economist. Prices were to be brought down in 100day post 2009 elections.

8. Dr. Manmohan Singh has failed India in Foreign affairs. Sharm el Sheikh

9. Dr. Manhoman Singh has failed to deliver justice to victims of 26/11.

10. Poverty in India has grown under Dr. Manmohan Singh

11. Naxal threat has increased. 

Now let us turn our attention to the claim made in this article by Mr. Vohra. One would have tended to agree with the assessment had our Prime Minister who was singularly focused in appointing Mr. P.J Thomas as the CVC even in the face of dissenting note placed on record by the leader of the opposition. Unfortunately display of similar faith in his own conviction is missing; he has not challenged the verdict of the Supreme Court in the appointment of CVC.  If the Prime Minster was so convinced about the correctness of his choice why has he not stood up like a man and contested it to the very end?

The decision was patently wrong, Prime Minister had more than ample opportunity to avoid this situation, yet he chose to defend the indefensible. Therefore now for the media to project this as a virtue and redemption of an image is rather misplaced and misleading the nation. 

In conclusion I wonder which of the three images posted above has our Prime Minister been able to redeem. I let this choice rest with the readers. 

SAY 'NO' TO INDIA'S BLOGGER CONTROL ACT DONT LET THIS EVER HAPPEN TO YOU

Latest post on this issue as on 8^th March 2011

The prime minister cannot plead innocence. Even if Dr Singh had been misled by the censored bio-data -- prepared by a department directly under him -- he was aware of the charges against P J Thomas because the current Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj [ Images ], told him so in plain words. But can you feel sorry for Dr Singh? J M Lyngdoh, the former chief election commissioner, was one of those that challenged P J Thomas's appointment in the Supreme Court. After the verdict he put it bluntly, 'It is not an indictment of Thomas, it is an indictment of the prime minister and the home minister.'  "Who doctored P J Thomas's bio-data?"   by T.V.R Shenoy

I welcome a debate and discussion on this…As always, please keep your tone civil, your language polite…no sweeping generalisations please and no personal abuse.  Thank you.

This Singh is no King!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Name of the cartoonist is mentioned on the Cartoon.

A rare occasion when I am spoilt for choice, four articles on which to base the current post, must confess I am partial towards Mr. Pankaj Vohra and Hindustan Times, since this is one combination which is hard to ignore when it comes to serving Congress party and its first family. The other three articles are  “Talk of the town” by M.J.Akbar in India Today This is how it has been concluded! “Indians are not supine by nature; but they do not waste their strength by putting it on constant display. Every general election is a tribute to their collective muscle. Governments which take Indians for granted, or confuse Delhi with India, are inviting a volcano to erupt. When Delhi talks there is fissure and turbulence. When India talks there will be an explosion.”

“No PM Is An Island” by Rajdeep Sardesai in Outlook This is how it has been concluded! “Maybe at age 78, it’s too late for Manmohan to transform himself from the self-effacing bureaucrat-politician to an effective mass communicator. Maybe, he will always be the Humphrey Appleby of government, a civil servant first, a neta only later. Which is also perhaps why he needs Sonia Gandhi’s help now more than ever? He has at least spoken, when will Sonia break her sphinx-like silence?”

“End of an aura?” by Arati R Jerath This is the opening paragraph. “On Wednesday, the ghosts of Rajiv Gandhi and P V Narasimha Rao seemed to hover in the background as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh protested his innocence in front of television cameras. It seemed an extraordinary throwback to the past. It was the third time a Congress prime minister was in the dock on the issue of corruption; it was the third time he was being forced to clear the air.”

I would leave the readers to form their own independent judgment on these three articles.

Let us now turn our attention to the favored one. ”A PM so helpless?” by Pankaj Vohra, Hindustan Times  February 20, 2011. The most striking part of the article in question is the gay abandon with which Mr. Pankaj Vohra is articulating this time round, in contrast to his earlier works Congress must pull up its socks.  ,  "Only the PM can get things moving again."   and 2G scam: Let the PM work freely .

What a case is being made out against Dr. M.M Singh “Before going public with his limitations, Singh should have stated his piece before the CPP, which elected him as its leader and subsequently endorsed his elevation to the position of the PM. He must learn from his predecessors and dig in his heels to fight corruption and inefficiency. He must always remember that the buck stops at his doorstep.” Mr. Vohra wants us to believe that there is a democratic system of elections practiced by Congress party. Come on Mr. Pankaj Vohra you have been around long enough if not more, to try and pull this one on us. The short and sweet is that it is Sonia Gandhi who appointed Dr. M.M Singh as the Prime Minister and no one in the Congress had the spine to challenge it. Some election this was.

However hard you may try, or employ extreme vehemence in stating your case against the Prime Minister the fact of the matter is responsibility of this selections rest squarely with the one person and that is Sonia Gandhi. Dr. Man Mohan Singh’s Prime Ministership has been suffering from a severe deficiency of legitimacy from day one.

You deserve to be congratulated for an audacious attempt to deflect responsibility from the congress high command and lay it all at the doorstep of Prime Minister. Indians are not naïve, we are witness to all credits being laid at feet of the High command and all failures diverted to persons other than Sonia Gandhi, life does not work in the manner you wish it to. Success and failure are two sides of the same coin. This time blame shall have to be placed which is deservedly most appropriate and that is the door step of congress high command.

 

Updated on 14^th Jan 2012

“Mr. Singh has his work cut out for him. Either he begins finally to deliver on reforms or he gets used to the idea that history will remember him not as someone who rescued India's economy, but as the leader who prevented it from attaining its full potential.” The Reformer Who Never Was.   Link 
 

Updated on 05th Aug 2012

Why has Singh failed to repeat his 1990s feat? Is he really a reformer he is made out to be? 

And, finally, is he a good man in a bad party, forced to do things against his will?

Singh was never king ONCE A BABU, ALWAYS A BABU 

I welcome a debate and discussion on this…As always, please keep your tone civil, your language polite…no sweeping generalisations please and no personal abuse.  Thank you.

How will pulling up socks help a corruption tainted political party?

Congress must pull up its socks.  By Mr.Pankaj Vohra, Hindustan Times 26/12/2010

This is the third article in close succession second in the month of December 2010. Why consternation of such high proportion? Mr. Vohra why have you by design thrown all caution to winds, despite the fact that Journalists and Media are wading through a very rough patch, credibility seriously dented in some case beyond redemption. You have faltered at the very outset P.M has no mandate from the people of this country to occupy the chair that he is in.

Needless to meander into political science discourse, you are fully aware how the Westminster form of Democracy functions. Laws and Conventions have an equal weightage. To obtain a mandate one must contest elections. Which is missing in the present case; appointment by High Command of Congress is not a substitute for popular mandate.

We fail to understand why is it that every journalist has to begin each article with the same preamble singing paeans of personal integrity and honesty of Dr.ManMohan Singh when facts on ground point towards the opposite direction. If bribe giver and taker are both equally guilty than those indulging in corruption and those permitting deserve to be treated on par.

“The Congress, on its part, seems to have run out of ideas. It has not been able to counter the BJP and Digvijaya Singh's strategic attempt to shift the focus of the debate from corruption to communalism versus secularism does not seem to have worked. In addition, the negative perception of the government has increased thanks to the spiralling onion prices.” This is a fact which even you had to acknowledge, Congress is in total disarray due to its own actions or lack of it.

“If the deadlock continues, it is going to damage the UPA even more. A remedy could be that the government, even at this late stage, should agree to a JPC probe, which covers the telecom policy after its formulation in the early 90s. The guidelines, which opened up the sector to private players, should be examined in a new light and every telecom minister in successive governments starting from PV Narasimha Rao's time should be probed.” The scope maybe enlarged, however, the point is will it mitigate the fact that under Congress and P.M Singh the Nation has suffered a loss of humungous proportions. Let us not digress or obfuscate the issue of revenue loss in 2G. If the probe is enlarged then the fallout for Congress will get more serious since in the last six plus years it has neither tried to recalibrate or plug the loopholes in the policy. Congress is in no position to point fingers at this late stage.

Some of the suggestion made by you are noteworthy and should be incorporated in the JPC. This is the only way forward; then there are the other scams also which need urgent treatment. Investigating agencies enjoy a reputation on par with the Journalists as of today lesser said the better it is.

“The Opposition has to concede that any kind of discussion on the issue can be held only in Parliament and the deadlock is serving only the purpose of not allowing an elected government to function by a party which faced rejection in 2009. The Congress, on its part, should pull up its socks and start behaving as a party in power instead of drawing attention to its possible involvement in all scams that have broken out since the beginning of the year.” This is a puerile argument, conversely it can be said Government is stifling the voice of the Opposition by it brute numerical strength. It would have been a better argument if a mutual give and take approach was adopted. Government of the day has the onus squarely on its shoulders to ensure smooth functioning of the parliament. Debates on 2G scam have been held and no concrete actions resulted from those debates. The compulsion of Opposition to have its say, that obstruction has to be resorted to as a last resort.

The party's plenary in Delhi will be known for its RSS/BJP bashing more than poor organisation and inability of its leadership to give out a clear message. It is time for course correction. Otherwise, the countdown for this government has begun more in the minds of the Congress party than with the opposition. This demand for JPC is not to bring down the government.

In conclusion a party which has been exposed as never before should be very bothered about covering itself up rather than just pulling up its socks.

Sample comments Posted on HT site in response to this article:

1. By Spectrum “very strange pankaj is advising congress instead of blasting them for the wrong doing. are there any honest journalists left, or honest journalists left are are not given the forum to their views. How long HT is going to give a rope to these paid journalists so called the fourth estate, which has become four twenty to the core. In spite of 100 per cent comments blasting the congress, HT obediently follow congress glory. Look at the articles of so called impartial journalists varghese vinod sharma vir sanghvi barkha dutt rajeeep sardesai all pen a song for congress praising them to the hilt. Be honest once in a blue moon. You will save many a soul and die peacefully at your old age. Be brave be honest and atleast remember the so called mahatma gandhi”

2.By Arun “I want to know whether the Congress agrees that a presumptous loss of Rs. 176,000 crores mentioned by the CAG is a figure prima facie acceptable to the PM ? If the answer is yes , the PM should agree for a JPC. If the answer is no , the PM should enlighten the nation of his views. There are many a Indians who will take the PM at face value given his past record and simplicity / honesty of persona. This will not resolve any issues but only serve to educate Indians what the highest Executive of the land thinks of the 2G scam. The PM , of course , has to ensure he is not guided by the Congress party but speaks HIS mind regardless of what the aggressive opposition thinks of his views.”

Latest article in Indian Express : 27/12/2010

However, India has been robbed of more than Rs 200,000 crore (Rs 2 lakh cr) through the various scams (2G scam, CWG scam, Adarsh scam and more) on his watch, yet he is mum on that, having refused to go beyond the cursory statement that the intelligence agencies are looking into the matter. Sleeping on the Job.P.M Singh looks to assure a robbed India he is clean. How does this help us?

The more the Congress party extols Dr Manmohan Singh as a man of integrity, the more they hang him out to dry. For in the bland finality of that characterisation, lies a story that speaks poorly of both the PM and the ruling party. Dr Singh & the rest of the iceberg By: Santosh Desai.

I welcome a debate and discussion on this…As always, please keep your tone civil, your language polite…no sweeping generalisations please and no personal abuse.  Thank you.

What will get the PM moving is the question we are asking??

 "Only the PM can get things moving again."  by Mr. Pankaj Vohra in Hindustan Time  dated 12^th Dec 2010, coming on the back of what he had written.2G scam: Let the PM work freely on 22^nd Nov 2010. This does raise serious questions as to why Mr.Vohra is repeatedly approaching the same issue within such a short time frame? I do not want to cast any aspersions on the author, more so in the light of what has just transpired with a few so called journalists and one senior journalist.
                                                                                                                                      
 This is also in sharp contrast to what Ms. Madhu Purnima Kishwar . “I fail to understand why almost every commentator, every TV anchor, every editorial writer feels compelled to pay ritual obeisance to the “personal honesty and integrity” of Dr. Manmohan Singh"Honestly Speaking."

Before proceeding further I must share this with all the readers.I think more or less sums up the current state of affairs. Vision- Right Angle: The Hermit of the Indian politics.

Now let us examine what Mr.Pankaj Vohra is saying in his article. “Our Constitution's fathers could not have imagined that allegations of corruption would shame our institutions and that MPs would not rise above narrow interests. The deadlock cannot be allowed to persist. The Prime Minister must take centre-stage to get matters under control. If the impasse remains unresolved, it is his chair which will fall first. Even the talk of a snap poll is to ensure his ouster.”

There can be no bigger truth than what you have stated! Unfortunately Prime Minister is in office not because of popular vote. We the citizens were not the inhibiting factor for his inaction against the corrupt Ministers and Bureaucrats. The question is why has the Prime Minister not used his own logic which employed at Sharm-el-Shaikh while dealing with Pakistan? “India has nothing to hide so discussing Baluchistan was not a taboo.”

Winter Session has ended without an end in sight over the logjam and neither does it seem likely to end in the budget session. Mid Term Poll is a threat that Congress has tried and failed. Congress stands to lose more than any other party. One cannot image a seasoned Journalist like you is unable to join the dots. You do yourself a great disservice by making such an assertion. Holy Cows must be protected at all costs.

What do you expect the Political parties to do other than play politics? I would not want them to be singing nursery rhymes, or lullabies. Who in his right mind would want a government which has corruption as it main achievement?  Rs 2,50,000Crores is the sum total of 3 scams 2G, CWG and Adarsh housing society. There are others which we may not have discovered just yet, and may come to light in the near future. Should the government stay in office after such humungous amount of corruption?

First family of the Congress may have issued the character certificate to the Prime Minister, which is self serving in nature. This has no value in the eyes of the people of India. Thank you for conceding the point that after this sterling performance Congress is unlikely to get the mandate of the people for another term in office.  “The JPC demand has united the opposition parties and even some constituents of the UPA like the Trinamool Congress and the DMK are not averse to such a demand.” This is the second statement which is true in your entire article.

Time for action is running out fast. Government seems to be doing everything other than what is most needed to restore our confidence. Prevarication is to its own detriment this message most certainly cannot be lost on Congress. Had the Prime Minister been by popular vote doubt if this situation would have been reached?

Latest articles on 2G scam:

1. Telecom Scandal Plunges India Into |has took away the faith of crores of Indians while they raped.

2. The first two lines of this article in Telegraph can give you an idea, why the tape leaks, why Diggy raja is speaking.

3. Why Congress is resisting a JPC probe into 2G scam?

4.  Why the government is afraid of JPC.

I welcome a debate and discussion on this…As always, please keep your tone civil, your language polite…no sweeping generalisations please and no personal abuse.  Thank you.

Who is holding back the Prime Minister from working? Not us.

Bemused by this article, 2G scam: Let the PM work freely - Who has or is holding back the PM not us.  by Mr. Pankaj Vohra in Hindustan Times 22^nd Nov 2010

There are broadly 10 assertions that are made by the author in the course of his write up. I will try and examine each one of them on their merit. Before we get down to doing that, there also another interesting article in the Indian Express by Mr. Mihir S Sharma "Less Mud Please" Once upon a time, India’s middle class seemed to have made a bargain with its politicians  Prime Minister Manmohan Singh does not speak to us other than on 15^th August and 26^th January. Maybe we are to be blamed for it, because we did not elect him to the parliament ultimately to the office of Prime Minister. He tends to speak to those who are responsible for him being in the seat of power.

Interactions of Prime Minister with the media are also rare, as it is since the last few day credibility of the media is under great amount of scrutiny and stress former on account of role of a few that have been exposed in allegedly murky dealing, latter on account of complete and deafening silence on the issue of role of its fraternity in murky dealings.

Now that we know where we figure in the scheme of things vis a vis our Prime Minister. It becomes that much easier to dispassionately deal with the issues raised by Mr. Vohra. “Let the P. M. work freely” we always thought as head of the government he was free to work, who or what is holding him back? Why and to whom is Mr.Vohra addressing? Surely it could not be the people of this country. Would it not have been proper if this plea by Mr.Vohra was made at the just concluded session of the AICC in New Delhi. We have our own complaint that the Prime Minister is not working.

“The possibility of a mid-term poll may arise if the Congress-led UPA government is unable to take stringent measures against those involved in large- scale corruption not only in the 2G scam but also in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games and the Adarsh Housing scandal in Mumbai.” I do not think we need to be employing any sort of rocket science to arrive at this conclusion. The moot point is nothing significant has happened in public perception to give us any hope. We do not want to see a few junior members being punished, people demand the entire range of individuals involved regardless of position, post or seniority be dealt with in an expeditious visible manner.

“Prime Minister Manmohan Singh indicated during the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit. That the guilty will not be spared.” We have been down this road repeatedly it is kind of worn out needs serious repairs. The mismatch between words and actions compels us not to take them at face value, we chose to ignore such rhetoric even when it come from the Prime Minister lacks weight and credibility.

“The credibility of the government is at its lowest and unless the PM is allowed to set things right by all the constituents of the UPA including his party.” This must surely rank  as the biggest understatement of 63years of independent India’s history facts are not just speaking they are screaming out not just at India, the world at large. We are the laughing stock of this world at this point of time.

“It is a crisis that has several dimensions.”  This is where conspiracy theories and the internal power struggle of the Congress comes into play. Sycophancy rules supreme, change of guard, all this is at the expense of India. We cannot be held hostage to these machinations of a party. Inaction on corruption cannot be justified on these grounds.

“Commonly felt that a no- confidence motion could put the fear of God into the government.” Why should such a move be contemplated at all? When the issue is corruption, the focus has to be on punishing those responsible. Why should we digress nothing would be achieved by such a move? It would self defeating, incase UPA sails through which it will given the tricks that it can employ for this purpose. Once that happens nothing will move on corruption!

“If the government and the party have to face the challenge and come out of it, the PM must be fully empowered to deal with various aspects of the issue.” This precisely validated the claims made by opposition parties that the incumbent Prime Minister is weak, it not on physical strength basis, the ability to act on issues which are prime importance to the nation.

“For that to happen, all the constituents of the UPA must stop putting pressure on him and allow him to take his own decisions and run the government the way he wants to.” Mr.Vohra what are you trying to tell us, that the national interest is being compromised for the sake of power that is available by virtue of being in the government. This is a very scary scenario that all constituents are working for thei benefit and not for the nation. What happened to the Aam Aadmi who was the main plank of this Congress lead government? Where does he figure in all this?

“The PM must also take a leaf from Indira Gandhi's experience in dealing with corrupt and irrelevant politicians in 1969.” Please refresh our memories on this. I am a little lost with this statement of yours. When and who has ever confronted corruption seriously in this country least of all is the Congress? Track record available with us speaks volumes contrary to your assertion.

“Manmohan Singh has started well by putting Kapil Sibal in charge of the telecom ministry.” The first interview given by the gentle man has anything but reassured us that corruption will be dealt with, with the serious intent and purpose. The impression gained is he was more concerned about deflecting blame from the government then tackling the issue head on. Let me state this candidly Mr. Sibal for all practical purposes told the citizen that his value is zilch when it comes to preserving the government. Pointer “The Prime Minister should have thrown the petition into the dust bin.” “Every common man cannot get up and ask for permission to probe.”

Does this leave any doubt with you as to where we are heading?

This takes the cake: 2G Government hides behind people's mandate, thumbs nose at Opposition.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi no lone ranger or loose cannon

Pakistan upto old tricks on Kashmir
by Pankaj Vohra on Wednesday, September 29, 2010
.... http://disq.us/nspdy

“The Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi seems to be determined that the India Pakistan relations do not improve.” This is a hilarious premise, if we are to accept this, it would effectively cast Mr. Shah Mehmood Qureshi in the mould of a lone ranger or a loose cannon, which he most definitely is not.

Needless to say a Minister for Foreign affairs enunciates, and propagates the foreign policy of the nation which is the end result of a process of discussions, and debates arrived at after receiving inputs from various quarters, is not necessarily a single individual’s handiwork or thinking.

Yes there is an overt display of machismo, bluster and loudness in the conduct of Mr. Shah Mehmood Qureshi, despite all these qualities he in his personal capacity would not be able to derail or enhance the relationship should the Government of Pakistan desire improvement of ties with India or vice versa. That would be giving him credit far beyond his capabilities. Improvement of relations with Pakistan, are not incumbent on who occupies the office of Foreign Minister in Pakistan.

It would be a fallacy to believe that Kashmir issue has not already been internationalized; it was so done when India took the matter to UN. The resolution if any is to be arrived at on a bilateral basis and not through the intervention or mediation by a third party. It would be far more prudent to look within, rather than look at Pakistan or the personality of the person that we would engage with from Pakistan.

We are guilty of oscillating from one extreme to the other. Either we are thumping are our chests ventilating fire and brimstone or it is all mushy mushy stuff. In all these years we have not developed a pragmatic Pakistan policy. While Pakistan has a very clear and defined policy which is conclusion of 1947 add to that the humiliation of 1971.

We have had our opportunities which were unfortunately frittered away, 1971 is a prime example. This can only be explained by our ambivalence, that is big brother approach, time will heal the wounds or sheer romanticism exemplified by Mr. I.K Gujral and others who held candle light vigils at the Wagha border. We have failed to factor in the realities of what drives Pakistan to base its relation with us. Being unaware would be excusable; ignoring those is the cardinal sin that we have committed.

Militancy unleashed in Kashmir in 1989 onwards was another manifestation of its desire to wrest Kashmir, this was successfully thwarted by our brave soldiers, here again it was treated in isolation and not included in the bigger picture. Events of November 26th 2008 is a paradigm shift, which begged a very robust reaction from India, we let ourselves down as always. Undoubtedly this was under tremendous pressure exerted by USA. The response of our government to events of 26/11 has established for all times to come that we are a meek and a weak nation. The utterance for domestic consumption may have been belligerent yet they lacked conviction and large portions of the civil society resigned itself to the fact that no retribution was on the cards.

The incumbent Prime Minister has not helped matters either by his formulations.

1. Boundaries cannot be redrawn……….But they been done in Europe what makes us so unique? That it cannot be implemented in our region.

2. Talks are the only way forward……….This is perhaps the most disingenuous statement, not talking is also an option and it should be exercised.

3. India cannot achieve superpower status or our growth is being hampered by an unstable relationship with Pakistan. This effectively makes us hostage to Pakistan and this is not a reality. India has made tremendous progress despite a hostile environment that envelopes our region.

The above three points actually feed the aggressive instinct of our neighbour who is acting more like the common street corner bully than a mature nation seeking to co-exist. We cannot be burdening ourselves unnecessarily with responsibility of improving relations with an intransigent Pakistan.

It is time to devise a definite policy for conducting our relations with Pakistan, we need to first address the issue of terrorism and the areas of Kashmir occupied by Pakistan. We cannot be legitimizing its role in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Should we fail to deal with this situation now, the consequences and the attendant costs at a later date may prove to be exorbitant.

We have failed to appreciate the urgent need to resolve the Kashmir issue internally, the longer we take to conclude this amongst ourselves greater are the chances of Pakistan meddling and provoking the locals leading to repeating the events of the past three months. Kashmir is an internal matter and Pakistan has no role what so ever. India needs to be assertive if not aggressive.

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.”