Indian General Elections - 2014

[Rangila]

#Feku ... Rahul Gandhi ? The Congress Honey Trap

Dholera city, modi's dream coming to reality.

 

[arp2041]

@Dillinger @samantk @JanjaWeed @Ayush @kurup @anant_s @Abingdonboy

 

[JanjaWeed]

^^^ what a plonker

 

[Android]

just saw it on TV nitish has given deadline till December for bjp in declaring its PM candidate and reaffirmed the candidate should have a complete secular image and acceptable to all communities

Correct me if I am wrong but bihar assembly elections are scheduled to be held in November this year right

 

[sindhibrah]

BJP must come into power in India if India really wants to be a serious world power. Your Prime Minister is a puppet from a party designed to make compromises on everything.

The good relations between India and Pakistan after the Kargil conflict in the early and mid 2000s is proof that a rightist party can still maintain peace with foes. At least I wish so. Hopefully the BJP can do better than the Congress in forming an actual relationship with China.

 

[KRAIT]

If BJP wins and modi becomes the PM of India.
What sort of policy do you imagine modi would take against Pakistan.
Would he try to improve his relation with Pakistan or he would be aggressive towards Pakistan?

As long as Pakistan indulges in Peace process, he will be forthcoming.

 

[Kazhugu]

hahahaha...this is the best article of aakar patel i've read in a long time.....he begins with a bang....

I think Rahul Gandhi has made the most mature and intelligent political speech from an Indian leader in 30 years. I don’t think his father ever had this quality of penetration into India. That explains Rajiv Gandhi’s bewilderment at why he could change India little and perhaps not at all despite sitting on the biggest majority in our history (over 400 seats).

read more of it on Why Rahul Gandhi has understood the chaos of India - Livemint

 

[Dillinger]

hahahaha...this is the best article of aakar patel i've read in a long time.....he begins with a bang....



read more of it on Why Rahul Gandhi has understood the chaos of India - Livemint

There is this saying, "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe." I think I am going to add sycophancy in there just to make it a bit more apt.

Such prosaic words nay platitudes, GALIYAN NIKAL NE KA MAN KAR RAHA HAI MADA$ CHO# PE!

 

[Dillinger]

@KRAIT something you've been talking about for a long time:-

Ghosts do not die

CHECK with the haunted: ghosts do not die. Since this sounds like the ultimate paradox, some explanation is necessary. Ghosts are not happy spirits. A ghost is spectre of justice denied, a moan from beyond the grave, revenge that has survived burial. A ghost does not leave judgement to God; it seeks its target while the assailant is still alive.

Many of those who instigated mobs in the anti-Sikhs riots of 1984 are dead; some have slipped, with age, into decrepitude. Legal justice has been tawdry, because the establishment has protected the guilty.

But there are at least two VIPs who cannot shake off their ghosts despite 29 years of protection and promotion, offered by Congress, which has been in power for 21 of these years. Sajjan Kumar was an MP and would have remained one till now but for an accidental burst of anger by a Sikh journalist in 2009. Jagdish Tytler is a senior Congress leader, with a seat in its highest committee.

The ghost chasing Tytler is relentless. Each time Tytler becomes complacent, it pops up. Tytler has reason to be complacent. It took Indias premier police unit, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) 23 long years to produce its final report for the courts; it concluded that there was no case against Tytler. The court was sceptical.

Two years later, in 2009, CBI repeated its charade, despite the fact that the Nanavati Commission had held Tytler culpable. India, thankfully, is not a police state. A sessions court has again thrown Tytler back into the public limelight.

Tytler behaves likes a split personality when he appears on television to defend himself, half anxious, half smug. His central argument is equivocal: he does not challenge the Nanavati verdict, but adds with a shrug that it is hardly his fault if CBI did not find any evidence. The smirk is almost too much to bear.

What Tytler, his guardians and acolytes do not quite understand is how much India has changed. There are many reasons obviously, but it can be said that one of the catalysts was the Gujarat riots. A cover-up is no longer possible.

In 1984, Rajiv Gandhi read out a speech written by an over-smart bureaucrat justifying the violence with the metaphor that when the earth shakes, a banyan or two is bound to tremble. No one would suggest this today.

The Gujarat riots have been followed by unprecedented media investigation, and judicial scrutiny supervised by the Supreme Court. VIP politicians are in jail. The process is exhausting and exhaustive, but it will separate the guilty from those who were not directly responsible.

No politician ever went to jail for riots before Gujarat; in fact, hardly anyone went to jail at all. Take a count of major incidents in the last five decades: Jamshedpur in 1964, Ranchi in 1967; Ahmedabad in 1969, when some 2,000 died; Nellie in Assam in 1983, where 5,000 Muslims were estimated to have been killed (I shall never forget the rows of dead babies I saw when I went to report that story).

Hiteshwar Saikia of Congress was chief minister of Assam then, and Mrs Indira Gandhi prime minister. No one demanded his resignation. Instead, Saikia was often lauded as an astute political craftsman.

In 1989 came Bhagalpur, when over a thousand died. Let alone Congress chief minister Bhagwat Jha Azad being held responsible, even the police chief was not shifted.
Sudhakar Rao Naik was chief minister of Maharashtra during the three months of riots in Mumbai following Babri in 1992-93; the guilty named in the Srikrishna report have been left free. Narasimha Rao was prime minister then. It is a depressing list.

Public accountability, spurred by popular will, is principally responsible for the reduction in the scale and frequency of riots. Politicians may be worried about courts, but they are terrified by voters. The mood of the country has changed visibly. The young, who are in the forefront of this change, want to leave the past behind; for them governance is measured in economic growth and jobs.

It is self-evident that violence and development cannot coexist. Investment in Gujarat will shrink if there is another riot. The young want to vote for jobs, not for the problems of 1947.

If you want to predict election results, an astrologer may still be of some use; but it is far more useful to look at unemployment figures, followed closely by an examination of corruption levels. Voters resent corruption because it is theft; what makes them apoplectic is that it is theft of their money, or the nation’s resources. A nation belongs to the voter, not to a government. Governments are only temporary custodians.

There is no truth about politics, which is totally true. But that which is largely true determines the fate of elections. Caste and creed have not disappeared, but pillars of the old life are fading as another new age begins to rise on the Indian landscape. And when they are finally buried, they will not beget any ghosts.

The writer is editor of The Sunday Guardian, published from Delhi, India on Sunday, published from London and editorial director, India Today and Headlines Today.

Ghosts do not die | Opinion | DAWN.COM

Every time I read something M.J writes my respect for him grows.
@Ayush @samantk @arp2041 @Koovie @kurup

 

[SamantK]

@KRAIT something you've been talking about for a long time:-



Every time I read something M.J writes my respect for him grows.
@Ayush @samantk @arp2041 @Koovie @kurup

M.J Akbar is indeed one of the finest journalist India ever produced.

@Dillinger, I also hope that Tytler is hanged by the balls this time around.

 

[KRAIT]

@Dillinger Hey bro.....How are you ?

Thing is 3000 Sikhs doesn't deserve justice rather than 700 Muslims. After all Sikhs are roughly 1.5-2% and Muslims are over 14.5% of India's population.

In India, justice depends on Profits and Benefits.

 

[Dillinger]

@samantk @arp2041 @Kazhugu @KRAIT @Ayush

The Mao of Gujarat
Byline M J Akbar

''If Modi can become the second Gujarati to have his picture on rupee, he will consider his life well spent.''

The unnamed young students of Ahmedabad who had a question or two for Rahul Gandhi this week were pertinent, not pert. They also provided more evidence that students are doing the job that journalists either cannot, or will not, do; which is, ask relevant questions. In this case, media was prevented from reporting the event, so journalists can’t be faulted, and we know what happened thanks only to an enterprising reporter from the ‘Times of India’ who had a source inside the hall.

The essence was simple and the same: students wanted to know why they should vote for the Congress when Narendra Modi had developed Gujarat so much. One answer given by Rahul Gandhi was odd, to say the very least. Mao Zedong, said Rahul Gandhi, also developed China but “he caused destruction to the country, too”. I am not too sure whether Narendra Modi would mind being compared to one of the great figures of the 20th century, warts and all. Rahul Gandhi probably gets his views on history from some briefing by a young and fresh associate, but he could have checked with the Chinese.
They have moved on from Mao, just as India and the Congress have moved on from Mahatma Gandhi, but China still reveres the leader of the Long March as the leader who laid the foundations of China’s economic miracle. Mao’s portrait dominates Tienmien Square as well as the nation’s banknotes. If Modi can become the second Gujarati to have his picture on the Indian rupee, he will consider his life well spent. Chairman Modi has quite a nice ring to it as well, although Modi would be going too far if he published a little red book packed with his quotable quotes and asked millions of young people to wave it in unison during a cultural revolution.

A young girl was sharper in her question. She asked which Congress leaders could measure up to Modi on the development matrix. Rahul Gandhi had four names on the tip of his tongue: Manmohan Singh, P Chidambaram, Jairam Ramesh and A K Antony. It is interesting that three of the four did not contest the Lok Sabha elections, and the voters in Chidambaram’s own constituency had such a poor view of his development capabilities that he was declared defeated before he was declared elected in the 2009 general elections. It would be interesting if Jairam Ramesh could find a constituency from where he could get elected on a development platform, but his ministry does take its priority cues from Rahul Gandhi’s travel plans.

No place in list

What is definitely interesting is that finance minister Pranab Mukherjee does not figure in Rahul Gandhi’s list of heroes, either in development or honesty. The two lists are, in fact, similar, because Rahul thought that the three most incorruptible ministers were also the PM, Antony and Chidambaram. He did not however consider Jairam Ramesh worthy of a position in the honest brigade. Poor Jairam. Or, one wonders, is it more appropriate to say, rich Jairam?

One doubts if the people will give too much credence to such certificates from the prime minister-in-waiting, but the large tribe of Rahul-watchers in Delhi must have already done an instant calculus, shifted positions on the pecking order and altered levels of homage. The big winners are obviously Chidambaram and Jairam Ramesh; the first jumps to the top of seniors, and the second takes pole position on the second tier. The certificate slates them as stars of Rahul’s first Cabinet, whenever or if ever that comes about, so now you know who to call if you want anything done.

The Ahmedabad students did not get into a critique of the heir’s remarks, but they did press on about Modi. Why was Rahul denying Modi credit for Gujarat’s development? He had caused ‘some issues’ replied Rahul Gandhi. Did he mean riots? At this point the story takes a curious turn. This was where Rahul Gandhi could have departed from fudge and become forthright. Instead, says the report, “the Congress leader refused to engage further and walked out saying he was getting late”. Perhaps he was only getting restive.
Rahul Gandhi had found out what Barack Obama discovered when he met Mumbai students at St Xavier’s College. It is easier to field questions from journalists than students. But that does not explain why he was evasive at the end. The students were more specific and forthright than him. It must be a recurrence of the old Congress disease, trying to play both sides against the middle.

Those who take the young for granted do not understand the young. They like cosmetics, but they never confuse make-up with the face.

The Mao of Gujarat

 

[MilSpec]

There needs to be live televised townhouse styled one on one debate with prime ministerial, home ministerial and defence ministerial candidates.

For NDA ideal candidates for the three positions would be N. Modi, Sushma Swaraj and Arun jaitley for these three positions.

 

[Kazhugu]

Reviving secularism - Indian Express

In this week when the ghosts of 1984 have come back to haunt the 'secular' Congress party, it gives us a chance to talk about what secularism has come to mean in an Indian political context. I thought the subject had become irrelevant after the 'communal' Chief Minister of Gujarat changed the conversation to governance. But I was wrong. Even as I write these words there are meetings being held in Delhi by 'secular, progressive people' who suddenly feel the need to band together to fight 'fascism'. In case you are politically naïve and do not fully understand what that word means today let me make clear that it means Narendra Modi.

His recent speeches and the assiduousness with which they have been reported live by nearly every news channel have caused alarm bells to start ringing in 'secular' circles. So, although last week's reopening by a court in Delhi of cases from 1984 involving Jagdish Tytler have come as a blow, it has not weakened the resolve of secularists to stop Modi in his tracks. This is being done in different ways. In political circles there is a whisper campaign whose objective is to frighten the BJP into not naming Modi as their prime ministerial candidate. From Bihar already come loud noises about 'consequences' if this happens. In activist circles, Marxists, liberals and crypto-Islamists have united to paint doomsday scenarios for Muslims. And, in Congress headquarters the alarm bells ring loudest because of the fear that if the next general election takes on a presidential hue, their prince may not be able to take on the challenger from Gujarat.

Secularism is no longer a word in the Indian political context, it is a weapon. A weapon that has been used very successfully against 'communal forces' many, many times. And, who are these communal forces? Anyone who allies with the Bharatiya Janata Party or dares to question the secular credentials of the Congress party is a communalist. Having said this, I need to add that if you change your political allegiances and even if you once belonged to a communal party like the Shiv Sena, you become secular as soon as you join Congress.

It is an absurd debate and fortunately many, many Indians have seen through it long ago. But, the reason why I felt the need to raise it this week is because I believe it could once more distract us from India's real problems. The most important of these problems is bad governance that is why when communal Mr. Modi talks about 'su-shasan' he draws an increasingly large audience.

Examine the smallest of India's failings to the biggest of them and you will find outdated ideas of governance. It is because of this that vast amounts of taxpayers' money spent by the Sonia-Manmohan government on poverty alleviation has gone waste. The officials needed to administer a scheme like MNREGA are so many that there is almost as much money spent on administration as there is on giving the poor 100 days of annual employment.

It is because of bad governance that government schools do not teach and government hospitals do not heal. And, it is because of bad governance that 65 years after Independence, the Indian state is still unable to provide clean water, electricity, affordable housing and basic sanitation to its citizens. It is because of bad governance that our cities look so bad and it is because of bad governance that it takes us decades to build a highway or an airport that in better-governed countries could be built in less than half that time.

So, in my ever humble opinion, when 'communal' Mr Modi changed the subject to governance he did a national service. It forced even Rahul Gandhi to acknowledge in his first address to the nation that there were serious unsolved problems related to governance. If now we return to that ancient debate about secularism and communalism we will be regressing to a time when temples and mosques were more important than the need to win the war against poverty, illiteracy and disease.

So, to those 'secularists' readying themselves for a new battle against 'fascism' I have only one thing to say: India has moved on and it is time that you did too unless you want to find yourselves in the dustbin of dead ideas. On my travels in our vast and wondrous land, I meet many, many young people and talk to them about their dreams and their idea of the kind of country they would like India to be. And, trust me when I tell you that I cannot remember the last time I met someone under the age of 25 who said to me that he was seriously concerned about secularism. They are not worried about it because they take it for granted.

Tavleen Singh ....once again....bang on the point......

 

[SamantK]

The BJP has no capacity to think long term, that is what has characterised their behaviour after tasting power. Unlike Vajpayee & Advani & the leaders of the BJP then, the present lot worries primarily about power. Heck, most leaders of the BJP are secretly jostling for power hoping that Modi gets shot down & they can be the PM. This from leaders who have no idea how to win an election. They all want to be PM, no one wants to work for a BJP government to be in place first. It also explains why the BJP opposes without reason even policies that it should normally be in support of.

The BJP has shown in U.P. a complete lack of common sense, getting boxed into a corner & now being rendered impotent. They are actually counting on offering Mayawati a dy PM post if she gets about 25-30 MP's. that is how they work. Long term thinking is not their cup of tea at all, too much to expect it of them in Bihar. The mess in Karnataka is proof of that. Had the BJP taken a tough line & sacrificed the government for probity, their chances of coming back to power would have been fairly good. They didn't & are now reduced to wondering whether they can bring back all the tainted chaps back to their party to save then from an election debacle. It wouldn't have worked no matter what they did.

Sir, that is exactly where I think BJP falters each time. I also want a strong party to give Congress a hard time in thier dealings, this time around they could not do away with what they liked because of many other factors and public support against Congress. Congress is playing it too easy for my liking.

That is one of the reasons I want a strong leader like Modi at the helm, he cannot achieve the level ABV was at but he is atleast better than the lot. Sushma swaraj is eloquent in her speeches but she did not do half the work Sonia had done in 2004 elections. Arun Jaitley is a brilliant lawyer but I do not think he has leadership material. I believe Modi can at least unite the leadership and deliver which I do not see anyone else doing. Those had enough time to change things but could not.