Where do we go from here?

The people of India have spoken.  A clear mandate for the UPA government has been given.  While this blogger doesn’t consider the verdict to be optimal (considering UPA’s unforgivable lapses in security and foreign affairs), the decisiveness of the victory is pleasing because it allows a less fractious Central government to go about its business.  The mandate against the BJP is very clear — the people don’t want any part of their divisive politics.  A campaign that was overshadowed by the venom spewing bigotry of Varun Gandhi was only bound for failure.  Uttar Pradesh has told Mayawati what it thinks of her self glorifying statues in Lucknow.   And Prakash Karat stands amidst the shattered pieces of his non-ideology.

Where does India go from here?  The Filter Coffee has repeatedly drawn attention to the dilapidated state of our local law enforcement forces, and national and border defense mechanisms.  They need addressing immediately.  When Chidambaram took over as Home Minister, he instituted a few changes, come cosmetic, some concrete.

The Congress must stop pretending that it is tied at the hip to the Unlawful Activities Prevention (Amendment) Act and work with the Opposition to construct a meaningful anti-terror law for the nation.  Our local law enforcement agencies need money, equipment and training.  Our national forces face severe shortages in equipment, which can only be addressed by correcting India’s defense procurement mechanism.  The shackles need to be loosened from our intelligence agencies.

India faces two immediate threats with regard to terrorism, from the Maoists and Jihadi groups.  With regard to external Jihadi threats, there are some elements that India can control and some that it can’t.  However, the Maoist menace is well within India’s realm and decisive action is needed to eliminate this plague that has consumed a third of India.

On the foreign affairs side, the Subcontinent is on fire.  Sri Lanka has found itself an effective counterweight to India in China, and its dismissal of India’s pleas was the most telling aspect of this relationship as war against the LTTE drew to a close.  Similarly, India lost the plot in Nepal during the UPA administration and as tensions continue to rise between the army and the Chinese backed Maoist government, India has a great opportunity to play the honest broker and demonstrate to that nation that India wants peace and stability in Nepal.

The United States is blowing a sigh of relief that the month long elections in India are at an end.  Obama’s immediate concern is to get India to focus on the Af-Pak issue.  The repeated calls for India to reduce troop levels along the western border are as absurd as they are misplaced and the UPA would do well not to wilt under American pressure as they have so often done in the past.

With Pakistan, India must continue to use every tool at its disposal to pressure that country to dismantle not just “terror” infrastructure, but specifically the Punjabi-terror outfits that target India.  The Pakistanis must be pressed to ensure that those responsible for 26/11 are brought to justice.  Pakistan’s “investigation”, as farcical as it was, is now a casualty of all the attention to the existential threat that country faces today.  Above all, the UPA must impress upon Islamabad that for India to show any interest in rekindling the “peace process”, there needs to be very credible action from Pakistan on both dismantling terror infrastructure armed at India, and bringing to justice those that were responsible for 26/11.

The mandate for the Congress is conclusive.  Manmohan Singh can either show the country that he can act convincingly to address the challenges that face us, as he did in 1991, or he can falter and stumble from one embarrassing embroilment to another as he has done over the past five years.  The ball is in his court.  What’s it going to be, Mr. Prime Minister?

Filed under: 2009 Indian General Elections, Af-Pak, Barack Obama, Foreign Policy, India, Politics in India, Sri Lanka, Terrorism, arun jetley, bahujan samaj party, bharatiya janata party, bjp, congress, Congress I, CPI(M), India, indian elections, lk advani, Manmohan Singh, Mayawati, nda, nepal, Pakistan, Prakash Karat, priyanka gandhi, rahul gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Sri Lanka, Terrorism, united progressive alliance, United States, UPA, uttar pradesh, varun gandhi

Damn the plebs…

LK Advani has been calling for live television debates since the schedule for the 15th Lok Sabha elections was announced.  The people of India have a right to know where the Congress, the BJP and other national parties stand on the complex issues that face the nation.  But the silence from the Congress has been deafening.  The maneuvering, amusing.  First, we were told that there would be no debate between Manmohan Singh and Advani because unlike the US, ours isn’t a two-party system.

Then we were told by Manmohan Singh that he isn’t much of a speaker, and lets his actions speak for him.  In other words, he’s a decider: like his good buddy, George W Bush. But Bush’s record in the White House makes him look like FDR after the Great Depression, when compared to Mahmohan’s record over the past five years.  And now this vitriolic harangue from Sanjaya Baru, the PM’s former “media manager”.  A cushy job, I’m sure, as it entailed doing nothing, just like the post of Home Minister.

Never before was a prime minister denied the right of reply in a debate on a motion of thanks to the President. Never before has a prime minister been prevented from defending his record in office in a debate on a motion of confidence. Manmohan Singh was at the receiving end of such grossly unfair treatment from an Opposition that turned every parliamentary debate into a duel. And now they want a television debate? Hah!

Wonderful.  In other words, you tried to knock me off the pedestal when I was vulnerable. Now, it’s payback.  To hell with the voters.  Damn the plebs. Where is this disillusioned rhetoric going to take India?  The kind of debate favored in our country is one where accusations are countered with counter-accusations. In the end, it’s the man on the street that loses.  This will continue only as long as you and I give currency to such garbage talk.

Voting begins in India tomorrow.  So please go out and participate in the largest democratic exercise in the world.  But pledge to yourself that the act of casting your vote won’t be the end of your engagement with governance in the nation; that it will be the first of many such engagements between a complex, if chaotic, democratic system and you, the middle class, English speaking, Internet surfing, pub hopping, reality TV watching Indian voter.

Filed under: 2009 Indian General Elections, India, Politics in India, Uncategorized, 2009 elections, bjp, Congress I, go vote, India, indian elections, lk advani, lok sabha, Manmohan Singh, Mayawati, mulayam singh, Sonia Gandhi, voting

Bouquets and Brickbats: 2008 in Review

We’re fast approaching the end of 2008, and it is customary to a look back at the year. 2008 was the year of rebates and debates, of bailouts and sellouts. In 2008, pigs accessorized with lipstick, surges worked, several people participated in waterboarding (some albeit involuntarily), and the fundamentals of our economy were deemed to be strong. Natural disasters claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Cuba, China and Myanmar. Businesses around the world collapsed and unemployment rates in industrialized nations crossed 6% for the first time in decades. In India, the lady from Rome did little the ease the miseries of the common man, and the Home Minister, like Nero, played the fiddle while the country burned.

Thankfully, there were the few welcome moments that diverted everyone’s attention from the forgettable events that have consumed us in 2008. The Beijing games were one of the better Olympics in recent memory; that China was able to undertake and successfully execute such a massive project should be an inspiration to other developing nations. Barack Obama’s election in the United States means that there will be responsible leadership at home, and consensus driven decision making when it comes to America’s foreign policies.

But without further ado, here now are the “bouquets”….

Bouquets

Hemant Karkare, Maj. Sandeep Unnikrishnan, other martyers who laid down their lives to defend India in the face of a series of unprecedented assaults. The “Do Nothing” government did, well, nothing to provide the equipment, training and funding necessary to counter the enemy. If the National Security Guards were able to flush out the terrorists in three days, it wasn’t because of the government’s involvement, it was despite the government’s involvement. This UPA administration has the blood of 160 citizens on its hands.

Somnath Chatterjee for standing up to the despicable tactics of Prakash Karat and his band of merry Commies and executing his duties as Speaker of the Lok Sabha. The scheming Left has shown yet again that it puts Party diktat and anti-Americanism over the rule of law and the country’s democratic process. With the nail firmly entrenched in the coffin of relevance, the CPI(M) can go back to being the trivial jokers they always were, and the nation will be better for it.

The Faceless, Nameless Gulf Laborer who is sandwiched between several devils and deep seas, but continues to toil for his family in conditions of virtual slavery. His day involves at least 12 hours of finger to bone work building extravagant skyscrapers and artificial islands, under the wrath of an unsparing sun. He is a victim of immoral agents in the subcontinent, construction companies in the Gulf, and their patrons in the palaces of Dubai, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, and Doha. He lives in total squalor, shares accommodation with several other construction workers, and remits 60% of his income back to his family in Nizamabad or Haripur, if he should be so lucky as to be paid his wages once in seven months.

The Fab Four of Indian Cricket — Ganguly and Kumble hung up their spurs in 2008, each a true champion in his own right. Ganguly will be remembered as the man who gave Indian cricket its swagger, and Kumble as the workhorse who ground many an opponent to the dust. Although a forgettable year for Rahul Dravid, felicitations are due for becoming only the third Indian batsman to have aggregated 10,000 runs in Test cricket. Speaking of great aggregators, a tip of the hat to Sachin Tendulkar as well, who, by becoming the highest run scorer in Test cricket history, owns just about every batting record there is in Test and One Day cricket.

Sam Manekshaw and Baba Amte, RIP This year’s Vijay Divas (December 16) had special meaning as India lost a true Son of the Soil in Field Marshall Sam Manekshaw. Thirty seven years ago, this bahadur orchestrated the dismemberment of the Pakistan Army and liberated Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) from the clutches of cowards who engaged in state sponsored genocide against Bengalis. Another great Son of Bharata was laid to rest this year — Baba Amte, whose social service and fight against leprosy lead to the establishment of several rehabilitation ashrams in the country, at a time when those afflicted with the disease were ostracized by society.

Madhavan Nair, Mylaswamy Annadurai, and ISRO Thirty-three years after Aryabhata, and twenty-four years after Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to travel in space, ISRO successfully launched India’s first lunar probe, Chandrayaan-1, on a shoe string budget ($80 million).

Other honorable mentions: Indian Premier League (I know purists called it a farce and a bastardization of cricket, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite being a fan of the Bangalore Royal Challengers); Muntadar al-Zaidi (of “Shoegate” fame — say what you will, Peyton Manning couldn’t have thrown better spirals); Katie Couric (for flat out owning the train wreck that is and was Sarah Palin).

Brickbats

And now for the not-so-fabulous. This year has been very ordinary, by every standard, so shortlisting the most truly repugnant characters was not an easy task.

Corporate Executives, Investment Banks, Realtors, Richard Fuld, Bernie Madoff, et al: How the mighty have fallen…and have dragged us down with them in the process. As I write this, B-Mad, who swindled the world off of $50 billion, is cooling it at his crib — yes, he’s under “house arrest”. That seems a little extreme…why don’t they just give him $100 billion from the bail-out money and send him on an all expenses paid vacation to Maui. It’ll do him some good…help him take his mind off the little “pickle” he’s in.

Prakash Karat and the Red Army Prakash Karat is the kind of guy who could give the Bush Administration lessons on being incompetent. The CPI(M) has never done anything, couldn’t do anything even if it wanted to, and has never been right on anything. Yet, the chest thumping campaign since 2005 would have you believe that they lead the UPA coalition. Brinda Karat is so annoying, her bindi looks like bullseye. Two states that they do have power in — Kerala and West Bengal — are suffering from chronic mismanagement. Kerala’s State Domestic Product relies mostly on remittances from NRIs in the Middle East, while trade unionism has run Kolkata’s once strong public sector economy to the ground.

United Progressive Alliance Where do I begin? From the veritable Dick Cheney-like Party leader, to a comatose Prime Minister, to five years of vision and leadership deficit, to pandering to the Communist agenda, to a fundamental mismanagement of the nation’s security apparatus, this UPA government has run my country to the ditch. No one cares about India any more. It’s always about brown-nosing to some community or the other, or some regional political party or the other. Why can’t a nation of one billion produce leaders that have better scruples than Sonia Gandhi, Advani and Mayawati?

Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga Unfortunately, moral bankruptcy among leaders in the developing world isn’t the exception, its the norm. When Kibaki and Odinga tussled, the political vacuum created a free-for-all in Kenya that resulted in about 2,000 deaths and the displacement of about 250,000 people. Human Rights Watch blamed Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party for targeting Kikuyus in the Rift Valley, including killing 30 unarmed civilians at a church. With the power-sharing agreement, which made Odinga the Prime Minister of Kenya, and Kibaki the President, all seems to be well in Nairobi. Things aren’t so well though for the hundreds of thousands of Kenyans who still remain without shelter or food.

Indian Media: Just how the Indian media manages to churn out third rate programming day after day is beyond me. In between the 10 minute commercial breaks, the twenty seconds of actual “news” programming is fraught with newscasters who can’t read or speak English. Why every news report must sound like a trailer for The Matrix, I don’t know. The sensationalism, the shrill pitches, the purposeful misrepresentation of facts, the chest-thumping nationalist rhetoric…the media claims it’s watching over India’s politicians…but who’s watching over the media? The Sardesais, the Goswamis, the Dutts, India’s media universe is replete with a satanic herd of yellow journalists. They are “newsmakers” in the most literal sense — the just make stuff up as they go along.

Arundhati Roy This storybook writer fancies her ability to break down and analyze “root causes” of many of India’s problems. In the wake of the Gujarat riots, she extended a heartrending apology, that wasn’t hers to tender, to “victims” who hadn’t actually been victimized. And now she wrote this swill, a 5,300 word blathering piece of an essay, where she blames everyone and anyone for the Mumbai attacks, except of course, the 10 terrorists and their sponsors in Pakistan. She even takes issue with everyone’s favorite (“news anchor”, “journalist”; insert noun here, I’m not quite sure what he does on Times Now) Arnab Goswami, for calling her “disgusting” on air. She calls this an “incitement” and a “threat”. Of course, Arundhati is not one to personally attack anyone herself. She wouldn’t have, for example, called Ramachandra Guha a “stalker” for merely pointing out that her analysis of the Sardar Sarovar dam issue was unoriginal. Would she? In 1997, Roy said “I had two options — writing or madness”. Well, Arundhati, this 5,300-word equestrian excrement of an article may have spared your sanity, but you haven’t made any such accommodation for the poor bastards that are subjected to it.

Rapid Fire: Raj Thackeray and his ilk (where were you when your city needed you most?); Russia (military interference in Georgia, economic muscle flexing against Ukraine…Big Red is back); AR Antulay (what a waste of space); and Robert Mugabe (who won’t be satisfied until he squeezes every last pumping drop of life out of the Zimbabweans) .

Filed under: 11/25/2008, anil kumble, Barack Obama, black cat, bouquets and brickbats, Congress I, India, isro, Mumbai Terrorist Attack, National Security Guard, saurav ganguly, Uncategorized, 1971 war, 2008 bailout, 2008 kenyan violence, 9 is not 11, ar antulay, arnab goswami, arundhati roy, baba amte, bangalore royal challengers, barkha dutt, bernard madoff, brinda karat, cnn-ibn, CPI(M), Dmitry Medvedev, Dubai, dubai labor, gazprom, georgia, gujarat riots, hemant karkare, indian media, indian premier league, ipl, isro, katie couric, kenya, kerala, leprosy, lk advani, madhavan nair, Manmohan Singh, Mayawati, Mikheil Saakashvili, muntadar al-zaidi, mwai kibaki, mylaswamy annadurai, narmada bachao andolan, ndtv, orange demoratic movement, Prakash Karat, pranoy roy, rahul dravid, raila odinga, raj thackeray, rajdeep sardesai, ramachandra guha, richard fuld, rift valley, robert mugabe, russia georgia war, sachin tendulkar, sam manekshaw, sandeep unnikrishnan, Sarah Palin, sardar sarovar dam, shoegate, somnath chatterjee, Sonia Gandhi, team india, times now, UPA, vladimir putin, west bengal, zimbabwe