Let us pay attention to the Maoist movement

Could China be encouraging the Maoist Movement in India? This possibility should not be ruled out. Every insurgency requires significant financial support besides a regular supply of arms and ammunition. Poor tribals and destitute farmers can not afford such sustained effort over decades. Who else but China benefits from such bleeding of India? The recent incursions by China along the Indian border are further evidence of China’s obsession with a rising India. No other country fears the rise of India than the ‘Communist China’. India defies the logic of Chinese ideology! They know in their hearts that Chinese nationalism is not enough to emerge as a great power and the Indian liberalism keeps reminding them of this contradiction. I am a firm believer of the limitations of an authoritarian regime. History is replete with such rise and fall of great powers like Japan, Germany and the erstwhile Soviet Union.

Coming back to the Maoist movement or ‘Naxalite Movement’ in India is a great opportunity for the ‘Indian Union’. It is an opportunity because otherwise nobody would have paid any attention to this vast population of India spread over five states – West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh – anytime soon. This is the result of a gross neglect of Eastern India by the central government and the respective state governments for past 6 decades. Ever since India’s independence in 1947, the Nehru-Gandhi cabal has shunned the ‘Eastern States of India’ like a plague. We are lucky that the entire region is still part of the ‘Union of India’. The Communist Parties of India have exploited the situation to their political advantage. Now the mainline communist leaders have no control over the Maoists guerrillas. The ‘Left Front’ has ruled over the state of West Bengal for more than 30 years and the Naxalite insurgency has only grown in that state. It is a joint failure of all political parties in India. Now is the time for the government to put the money where their mouth is!

Dhoni is the Obama of Indian Cricket!

Mahindra Singh Dhoni has transformed Indian Cricket the way Barack Obama has transformed American politics. This 27 years old young man from Ranchi, Bihar is as cool as Barack Obama under pressure. He is a rare all-rounder that Indian cricket has seldom seen. Kapil Dev is the only other Indian cricketer that comes to mind. But here is the big difference, Dhoni is a wicket-keeper and has a much better sense of the situation than Kapil Dev ever had being a bowler-batsman. But the bigger implication is Dhoni’s personal background. Kapil Dev came from a relatively affluent background and a much richer state. Mahindra Singh Dhoni was born in Bihar, the poorest state of India and with least amount of sports infrastructure. To compound the problem Ranchi became a part of Jharkhand State an even poorer entity.

When Kapil Dev led the team-India, it was an urban sport dominated by Bombay-Delhi cricketers. Dhoni has inspired the rural youth of India with his unpretentious small-town disposition. I have never been to Bihar or Jharkhand but still it is not difficult to imagine the boost that Dhoni’s elevation as the captain of the Indian Cricket Team must have provided to the youth in those states. Bihar, Orissa and now Jharkhand have not produced too many national cricketers since the Indian Independence. It is not the people’s fault that their political leadership has ignored the development of these and many other North-Indian States. Every Dhoni and Mohammad Kaif would become a development symbol of their respective state in the time to come. Dhoni is an unusually aggressive cricketer because of his State.

Not so shy Dhoni in a Pepsi Ad

New Delhi-the capital of incompetence!

Sonia Gandhi has managed to put together a cabinet of the most incompetent politicians, barring a few exceptions, to be presided over by a loyal Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The head of the government, the Prime Minister of India, has no say in the matter. He barely goes out of Delhi and when he does, he is heading to some other country for some international engagement. Meantime, India burns and is being torn apart by anti-national elements. Sonia Gandhi has been the most incompetent leader of any ruling party and all other options look less dangerous. She is unable to deal with any other state or it’s Chief Minister. Mayawati rules over UP (Uttar Pradesh) like a separate country while Nitish Kumar presides over Bihar like  a banana republic. The state of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa are like some down trodden countries of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Behenji (Kumari Mayawati), stunned the nation last year when she won majority control of India’s largest state. Mayawati was sworn in as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the fourth time on May 13, 2007. She leads the government of Uttar Pradesh with a population of more than 190 million people. It has been 17 long months since she took absolute control of the most populous state of India. What has she achieved so far? Besides lording over civil servants in her state and transferring them at the drop of a hat she has inaugurated the installation of giant statues of Dalit icons, including herself, in the capital city of Lucknow! She is busy settling scores with her predecessor, Mulayam Singh Yadav, another corrupt politician from UP. She also wants to be the next Prime Minister of India. The Central Government couldn’t care less and Mayawati can barely stand Sonia or Manmohan Singh.