The former RNC chairwoman is in good company.
What Can a Billion People Do With a Frustrated Army Chief?
When an army chief gets cross
there is nothing much you can do, as the Indians are learning the
hard way. In neighbouring Pakistan ,
like in many Arab countries in the past, things might have been simpler. All
General B K Singh had to do if he wasn’t happy with the government was to
declare a coup.
If in the chaotic and non
decisive India
no one seems to know what to do, it’s because the saga of the Army General B K
Singh, who is about to retire is a complex one.
First there was this issue
regarding his real age arising out of two different dates entered in the
military records. Unbelievable it is, no one really knew or could decide how
old the commander of the vast army protecting 1.3 billion Indians was until the
Supreme Court turned down a case he filed against the government.
The row which did go on for the
better part of last year between the General and the government which ended up
in court and in a serious loss of face for both parties, gave the general
impression that India
was not expecting an invasion from any corners.
Then there was this ‘bomb’
of a bribe of $3.5 Million the general was offered by another retired general
for favouring purchase of substandard trucks for the military. Totally out of
expected conduct of an army chief, Mr Singh revealed the offer for the bribe to
a national daily which promptly chose to publish it without blinking an eye.
This caused great shock inside
and outside the country and an uproar and commotion in the parliament which
demanded explanation as to why no action was taken by the general or the
defence minister to whom the matter was promptly reported.
But what has happened today, by
the leak of an official letter the general had written to the Prime Minister
listing the pathetic state of lack of modern equipment and vulnerability of
Indian defences has created unprecedented political upheaval and expression of
anguish and strong demand for sacking of the general.
However, the Indian government,
which is playing hosts to a meeting of the BRICS
will be greatly embarrassed to take any action against the general right away.
Even though all three events look
to be related and involving General Singh, the reality is stemming from the
fall out from the 2G scam the Indians political parties chose to politicize out
of proportion for partisan gains, resulting in total inaction by the government
machinery, especially in the ministry of defence, which is wary of accusation
of corruption.
After all General B K Singh may
be doing the country a great service in bringing home the realities of dealing
with defence budgets, expenditure, need for secrecy and integrity of human
beings, all mutually opposing factors in real life.
Indians, who generally think they
have nothing to learn from anyone else, have to learn the virtue of moderation
if they need to feel secure under the protection of a great army!
Article first published as What
Can a Billion People Do With a Frustrated Army Chief? on Technorati.
Will Someone Spare Anna Hazare a Copy of “Don Quixote” by Cervantes?
Anna
Hazare is playing ‘Don Quixote’ again without reading the novel. If he will
care to read, perhaps he will realise the futility of his own
actions in his old age.
“Many
critics came to view the work as a tragedy in which Don Quixote's innate
idealism and nobility are viewed by the world as insane, and are defeated and
rendered useless by common reality”
There is none so blind as those
who won’t see and Anna Hazare and his team won’t see that their game of “Don Quixote” is not fair on
1.3 billion Indians!
There are striking resemblances.
For a starter like Alonso Quijano who
adapts the name Don Quixote, Anna who
is 74, must have been reading too many books on chivalry (certainly not “Don
Quixote”) while all that corruption was going on under his nose for all these
years. It is not clear though what has woken him up to the ‘menace’ of
corruption he must save his country from, even if he has to give up his life
for that!
Arvind Kejriwal, who acts as if
he has been secretly offered and aspire to the post of Lokpal of India, fits
very well in to the role of the illiterate and gullible Sancho Panza, the squire of Don
Quixote, who was offered the post of the governor.
Kiran Bedi, the frustrated and
very first woman police officer of the prestigious IPS
cadre of India ,
fits in very well as Antonia, the
niece of Don Quixote and Prasanth
Bushan, the leading lawyer, as the village curate, both acting in advisory
roles to Don Quixote.
There are of course several minor
characters, Rocinante
the skinny horse of Don Quixote and Rucio, the donkey of Sancho Panza included, in the team of
Anna Hazare.
Like Don Quixote, Anna and his team, in their wild dreams pick on
anything they can which don’t retaliate, to blame for the epidemic of
corruption in India while the real causes and reasons lie elsewhere and beyond
the combined intelligence of the whole team.
The very notion that corruption
is the biggest problem the nation is facing and getting rid of it must be the
priority and there is only one way by entrusting a super cop who has the life
and death power over 1.3 billion people to do it, all ideas propped up by Anna
Hazare and his team, show how close Anna’s hallucinations are to those of Don Quixote.
For one thing, ‘corruption’ is in
the vein of Asian culture which is based on spirituality and in pleasing gods by
offerings to get along in life. It is in the blood of Indians. An honestly
conducted survey among 1.3 billion Indians to find someone who has never been
part of a corrupt act in life is likely to draw a blank. But then again honesty
is not easy to find.
In fact corruption in India
has numerous manifestations. Bribery rampant among public servants, capitation
fees in education, baksheesh for services, horse trading in politics, and favouritism
in government, only to name a few, each with its own causes and remedies if
any.
Many of these are natural and
unavoidable in a vast nation like India ,
which remained a closed economy insulated from the rest of the world till the
nineties when near national bankruptcy forced the government to open the
country’s economy to influx of foreign investment.
In reality, while the bribes were
considered an ‘acceptable means’ to make up for the measly income in the public
sector, the recent surge of foreign funds has aggravated the problems in urban
life, exploding the difference between the
haves and have-nots. This is different
from the commercialisation of education, medical and other services. The
corporate corruption involving the government is of different nature as well.
In effect, all these can be
contained by a Lokpal is not logical. The recent actions by the supreme court
sending central ministers to Jail also prove that nothing more than the
existing system is required if the government and everyone empowered is willing
to act conscientiously without interference or intimidation.
What then is the justification of
blaming and picking on a ‘minority’ coalition government, which has tried to
give the cleanest governance India
has ever seen, for the windmill Don
Quixote was trying to tilt?
Kejrival’s naming
of 14 ministers, based on mere media reports, as corrupt and Anna Harare’s
demand that they be sent to jail by August smacks of accusation, trial and
punishment all by mere imagination and shows the dangers of an all powerful
Lokpal which cannot be acceptable in any democracy.
It is interesting that the ‘real’
politicians who have managed to sabotage the Lokpal bill like Mamta Banerjee or
strong men like Mulayam Singh Yadav whose newly elected government has
appointed members with criminal background has not been challenged by the new Don Quixote of Indian politics.
Anyone who has listened to Anna
Harare’s recent speech also can’t miss the lack of sound reasoning and racist
overtones of his backers with a political agenda.
Like Don Quixote, Anna always chooses a nice sunny weekend for his
pursuits. It is not surprising that young girls who like the fragrance of the
candles looking for a chance to light some are always out to watch and applause
the escapades. But it looks like Mumbaikars are busy running their lives and
have no time for such madness!
Article first published as Will
Someone Spare Anna Hazare a Copy of “Don Quixote†by Cervantes? on
Technorati.
Now the Indians Want to Send their Prime Minister to The Tihar Jail.
The Indian education system has
miserably failed to create a new generation of ‘thinking’ and discerning minds
to control the finger tips on the keyboards which deliver a variety of services
to the rest of the world.
Instead millions of Indian youth,
with ready access to the cyber world, whip up thoughtless and highly damaging
frenzy, like the twitter
trend ‘#coalgate’ created yesterday on a leaked report alleging Prime Minister
Man Mohan Singh of presiding over a scam
of $ 211 Billion involving sale of Indian coal mines to private companies.
What is more mind boggling than the penchant of theCAG ( Comptroller and Auditor General ) of India to project assumed losses of astronomical sums to the government on account of corruption, is the willingness of millions of ‘educated’ Indians, on whom the west happily outsource everything, to jump in to ridiculous conclusions and create a frenzy like 'coalgate'.
What is more mind boggling than the penchant of the
1.3 billion Indians who live in India
are a species apart on the surface of this earth which can’t see where the
petrol is coming from because it refuses to see what happens worldwide in the
supply of petrol. The average Indian believes government subsidy is the birth
right of every Indian. If you are generous, you can attribute this to a lack of
education which gives an overview of the world they live in and share with
others.
But for millions of educated
Indians, who share the information revolution and the cyberspace with the rest
of the world, there is no excuse to realise and accept that there is nothing
called a free meal.
For example, conceding that
corrupt practices were resorted to in execution, the Prime Minister had already
explained why and how the 2G spectrum was liberally distributed, as a
Government policy, to encourage the telecom Industry.
This has seen India’s subscriber
population exploding to a massive 700 million in a few years, who enjoy the
lowest of rates anywhere in the world, thanks to the $39 billion it didn’t
amass as licence fees, which would have been passed on to the consumers.
In fact what the Indian consumer
has benefited from is an indirect and unspoken subsidy of call charges
equivalent to the same amount, if they were to be compared with the rest of the
world. Whether the western investors would have rushed to India
to invest that kind of money in licence fees is a different matter.
The new report of the CAG
with accusation of loss of $211 billion to the government, which has been
leaked and subsequently refuted
by the CAG , arises from a government action
indented to stimulate the mining Industry.
The government and several
Industry leaders have already pointed out why the CAG ’s
conclusions are baseless.
"Many
of the blocks are uneconomic, you have to share between two or three parties
and most of these blocks have hardly been explored at all. So remember, you
would have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in exploration, development
and infrastructure to exploit them," he said. "I think it will be
forgotten quickly."
With the furore created over the
issue, with heads of almost every leading Indian corporate from TATA to Arcelor
Mittal as well as the Prime Minister himself likely to get a summons from the
supreme court and possibly a term inside the infamous Tihar Jail already
hosting a few ministers, the Indian’s can forget not only the development of
the coal industry but any reform which should secure India’s legitimate
position among developed nations.
With the two corporate heads of
the $ 17 Billion Essar group already summoned by the Court in the fallout of
the 2G scam, similar action cannot be ruled out and the dust is not going to
settle despite any government attempt to brush away the aspersion cast by the
leaked report.
If that happens, only the
senseless politicians and thoughtless youth of India
are to be blamed.
Article first published as Now The Indians Want To Send Their Prime Minister To The Tihar Jail. on Technorati.
Article first published as Now The Indians Want To Send Their Prime Minister To The Tihar Jail. on Technorati.
Why Should The US Worry If India’s Mamta Has Gone Mad?
India is the biggest working democracy and just one person’s sanity keeps it going. And that is Mamata Banerjee, the predictably mercurial Chief Minister of the state of West Bengal and the leader of the Thrinamool Congress Party, whose 19 members of parliament keep the stability of the Indian Government.
If Mamta goes mad, India can go mad and it looks like Mamta has gone mad. It is not clear if she has gone really bonkers, but it seems she is really mad at her party colleague and the central minister for the Railways, Trivedi.
Mamta Banerjee decided to sack him on the very day he has presented to the parliament the crucial budget for Indian Railways. Thrivedi's crime is making small and nominal increase in the ridiculously low Indian rail fares which no one is seriously complaining about, after 8 long years during which there was no hike.
That is really what makes every Indian really mad! Mamta is the leader of the Thrinamool congress, the biggest alliance partner in the ruling coalition who runs the Indian Railways and who has presented the Railway budget in the parliament today, announcing the over due hike to cover huge budget deficits. By evening, Mamta has already declared she won’t let the price rise proposed by her own party to be implemented. What does she take the 1,3 billion Indian’s for?
If ordinary Indians are just baffled by this incredulous behaviour of Mamta Banerjee, she had been driving her cabinet colleagues and the Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh nuts in recent months by objecting and obstructing almost every reform measures the government wants to and has tried to introduce to ensure the growth rate of India.
Like the flip flops she famously walks around in, her declared position towards the government had been one of vacillation on every issue, leaving everyone guessing what she will or won’t do in practice.
Coalition democracy everywhere is maddening. But no where has it such debilitating and disastrous effects as in the Indian politics, sabotaging any chances millions of poor people have to get basic amenities like food, water, housing education and health care ever in their lifetime.
The main factor, a lack of real internal democracy within political parties, which breeds arrogance and whimsical behaviour of leaders, especially female leaders, is to blame for the sad plight of millions of Indians.
Mamta Banerjee has a populist agenda. However like many a housewife in India she doesn’t bother where the money will come from. Mamta Banerjee may not be intelligent enough to grasp the intricacies of economics, but as a leader of millions of people who trust her to deliver on her promise to improve the quality of their lives; she has a responsibility to listen to those who know. For now her behavior in public give serious concern about her state of mind.
For the west and the US especially, who consider India as the place to be in for growth and business from multi billion dollar deals to create jobs back home, this mad embrace of populism by ultra sensitive female leaders of India must be a serious concern and a factor not to be missed in whatever projections they make.
Article first published as Why Should The US Worry If India’s Mamta Has Gone Mad? on Technorati
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