Dr. Subramanian Swamy - the need of the Hour

Politicians are always in public scrutiny or ideally this should be the case. However of late we have been made to understand that within the given framework no politician can be held responsible and for that matter no "well connected" individual more so corporate house can be booked for any crime, what so ever. Especially the ones involving misuse of official position or embezzlement of public money. The unprecedented corruption done by outgoing government coupled with near zero delivery of governance and public-good resulted in this "collective madness". The Anna-Ramdev movement was an outcome of this collective madness, where upon it was argued that the panacea of all such ills is Jan Lokpal- by mere increasing a step in legislative food chain we will solve everything. The movement snowballed into such a proportion that even the most vociferous opponents of it started to believe that Jan Lokpal might bring some positive change. In the language of Carl Gustav Jung and Paulo Coelho such collective madness is called sanity!!! 

But there was a pattern in this madness and Arvind Kejriwal an astute person having political ambition and attached to this Anna movement was quick to decipher that. He knew he can make the most of it. But he had to do it quickly because artificially injected (unlike culturally or educationally or religion-wise injected) collective madnesses take lesser time to be cured. To increase the time at hand and his political prospects he extrapolated this madness to the level of insanity. He and his supporters started calling any and every one of little bit fame as “thief” or “dishonest”. In a country where already large population was feeling cheated by the government and listless in absence of any hope; this strategy worked wonders. He ended up becoming Chief Minister for some days. A master stroke played by congress by extending unconditional support. But as is always there- that seeds of our destruction lie within us. That was the unmaking of this man.

Once in Chief Minister’s chair his loose remarks started to haunt him. Now people wanted him to deliver and they wanted him to book all corrupt politicians or corporate houses whom he had earlier called as thieves. But he knew he cannot walk the talk. Now a prisoner of his own device, he tried to play another strategy –somersault. A man who had been an income tax officer tried to change appropriation account to subsidize electricity that too with retrospective effect. Anyone who knows little bit of economics/commerce can tell that its wrong- so he failed. He started to hoodwink by saying he has no “proof of corruption” against Sheila Dixit (whom till very recently he called corrupt), lodged FIR against Ambanis which defied procedures and hence became illegal, tried to show to the people that he wished to pass Lokpal- but again did it in a fashion that defied procedures. 

He and his bunch of people who were more comfortable in the streets when unable to keep their promises feigned seriousness where there was none. But how long can it go, doing drama is one thing and double book keeping of accounts is another. Hence he resigned on the penultimate day when he was supposed to present the budget. He tried to portray as though he has relinquished the office and hence tried to become a martyr.

Congress which had already sensed its defeat in the Lok Sabha elections pushed him to the national election by keeping the assembly in suspended animation instead of dissolving it, this was another master stroke of a dying but shrewd party. Had governor dissolved it he and his team would have contested again in Delhi as in all likelihood election commission would have held Delhi’s election simultaneously. But alas that never happened. He and his team even went to court against this decision but did not get any reprieve and the damage was done.. Now the only strategy left with him was to remain in lime light and thru that in people’s minds. So he chose to contest from Varanasi against Modi. He knew it was a losing battle but had no choice. He now became more rabid- things became bizarre when he and his team started calling “corrupt and thieves” to even those who did not agree to their views. 

So here was a man who was certainly not “common man”, rather  a third rate caricature of a “common man” who has scant respect for rules and procedures yet does not leave any opportunity to call others as thieves if they happen to skip any. After losing from Varanasi came back running to Delhi and asked governor to appoint him again as chief minister as assembly is suspended but not dissolved. So this was the return of the common man having uncommon greed as his only quality!!!

No one defends Nitin Gadkari or his likes in any party, he may be a real thief, but not agreeing to  procedures every now and then amounts to creating nuisance.  

In contrast to Kejriwal, Subramanian Swamy has taken to task lot many corrupt people within in the framework of the system. The list includes Ramkrishna Hegde in phone tapping case, Jayalalitha in Tansi saree case- stopped her to become chief minister even though she had a majority, A Raja, Kanimozi, Kalmadi,Coalgate, 2G and even Soniaji on her educational qualification. 

Today after more than a year..I don’t know.. do we really need a Lok pal?..I will certainly oppose one if it has a person like Kejriwal who is all out to destroy all institutions as its member.. I can say thankfully I was cured much much before the elections and so were most of us..that is why his party lost deposit in 96% seats. I have always felt we have enough people who can think out of box, we need people who can think in-box. 

India needs Narendra Modi as PM to reinforce secularism

To demonise Narendra Modi as "the butcher of Gujarat" and "Maut ka Saudagar" (Merchant of Death) is as clever and catchy as that 10-year-old’s impromptu recitation on All India Radio, "Gali, Gali me shor hai, Rajiv Gandhi chor hai" (‘Rajiv Gandhi is corrupt’ is the cry in the streets).
In both cases, it was strong public perception that inspired such sentiments. Public perception is created when the same message is hammered by various sections of society and amplified through sustained reportage in the mass media. Thus, manipulating public perception is the objective of propaganda which is aimed at destroying the enemy.
As things stand today, neither late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi nor Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been proved guilty of what they are popularly accused of. It is the courts in India which hold the final authority in convicting people and since there is no conviction against Rajiv Gandhi or Narendra Modi, we have no choice but to accept their innocence.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. AP

It is entirely possible that these powerful politicians were successful in wiping out evidence against them, as would be expected of powerful politicians and political parties, especially in a country like India. A whole range of sitting MLAs and MPs, ministers, chief ministers, politicians and other powerful people could be accused of this. There is therefore no reason to hastily single out Modi as the kingpin of the 2002 post-Godhra riots or as the mastermind of the Ishrat Jahan encounter deaths.
Modi remains innocent of these accusations till the point that the charges are established by the investigating agencies and are proved in a court of law. Till such point, leveling the familiar charges against Modi would amount to playing into the hands of the propagandists.
Till today we don’t know about the truth of Narendra Modi’s alleged complicity in the Gujarat communal riots or the encounter deaths and therefore it would prudent to hold judgement on Modi.
In a recent article in The Times of India, Pavan K Varma, author, ex-diplomat and currently adviser to the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, posed the question, ‘Can India can afford having a polariser for PM?’ One may well counter-argue that India actually needs a polariser like Narendra Modi to reinforce her secularism. The only way to free our politics from the bogey of communalism is to confront our fears and see Narendra Modi become prime minister.
Varma did not accuse Modi of complicity in the Gujarat riots or the encounter killings but suggested that Modi had marginalised Muslims in his own state. Can a multi-religious country like India “which is the cradle of four of the great religions of the world” and which has one of the largest populations of Muslims in the world, afford a person like Modi as prime minister, asked Varma. He stressed that the nation’s founding fathers sought to preserve “the vibrant plurality of India” not out of idealism but out of compulsion. That, the Modi government’s claims of good governance were questionable and that the inclusiveness of Atal Bihari Vajpayee was far more acceptable as under him “the BJP had begun to reconsider its narrow Hindutva orientation, in order to make the party’s appeal more broad-based and in congruence with the realities of India”.
Modi’s other limitations, according to Varma, are lack of expertise in ruling more than one state of India, “no experience of running a coalition, no reputation of a team leader, very little tolerance to dissent, and a muscular, unidimensional vision of India that excludes large segments of the citizens of this country.”
It is worth arguing that as India’s most powerful prime minister, Indira Gandhi too began with no expertise in running the country and her tolerance to dissent or reputation as a team leader are entirely questionable. Her cabinet was often depicted as a gathering of “yes men” with rubber stamp heads.
A leader can have his or her style of functioning; what matters are the results delivered. There is evidence to support Modi’s achievements as an efficient administrator and chief minister into his fourth term; to challenge this record wouldn’t be as easy as it is to brand him as the kingpin of anti-Muslim pogroms.
It is worth pondering whether Vajpayee would have approved of Modi as a prime ministerial candidate? If Vajpayee as prime minister allowed Modi to continue as chief minister in the aftermath of the Godhra riots, there is reason to believe that this secular face of the BJP would find Modi acceptable for the top post.
There is also no denying that Modi has his supporters among the Muslims in Gujarat and while this section is small, it cannot be considered insignificant.
India has had a history of communal violence since ancient times and the massacres and displacement during Partition were the worst in modern history. In recent times, the anti-Sikh riots of 1984, the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits during the late 1980s and early 1990s and the communal clashes following the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992 and the Godhra train burning incident of 2002 take centre-stage. Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs suffered in these unfortunate clashes. Given the backdrop of frequent Hindu-Muslim clashes, it is noteworthy that no major communal riots have occurred since 2002.
The India of 2013 is different from the India of 2002. A mindset change is taking place and the youth of today—whether in the cities or villages—sees hope in entrepreneurship and self-employment. A prominent section among the Dalits is experimenting with Dalit entrepreneurship and the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) is receiving good support from industry and the Union government.
The people have seen through terrorism as a ploy to weaken India and create a rift among Hindus and Muslims. And yet, killing one another in the name of religion is the last thing on the minds of the people who see greater merit in pursuing peace and employment.
The anti-Modi hysteria and fear psychosis is being whipped up by political parties with sizeable Muslim followers such as the Congress, NCP, the Janata Dal (United) led by Nitish Kumar, Samajwadi Party led by Mulayam and the Rashtriya Janata Dal led by Lalu Prasad Yadav. Playing the communal card is a time-tested formula for these parties.
There is no reason to fear that a rash of Hindu-Muslim riots will grip India if Modi succeeds at the national level. In fact, the best way to overcome our fears is to confront them head-on and for this larger goal, Modi needs to succeed at the 2014 polls.
Modi as prime minister will be the best test for Indian secularism. He will be forced to walk the extra mile, bend backwards to preserve and promote communal harmony and demonstrate good governance which he has been promising to the people.
The UPA which has been seeped in corruption faces no such compulsions. All it needs to do is raise its anti-Modi campaign to a hysterical, feverish pitch and enjoy power after winning the 2014 polls. It is time that India wakes up and gives an opportunity to Narendra Modi.