My compliments to UPA for keeping off Sri Lanka

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government must be complemented for helping the Sri Lankan government crush the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) movement. There was so much pressure on his government from their DMK allies to intervene but Dr Singh stood firm. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi is a crook and must be isolated from creating any more problems for Sri Lanka or India. LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran was in some ways DMK creation and was largely sustained by Tamil jingoism in India. Indira Gandhi did not help matters by extending her covert support to LTTE in its early secessionist struggle against Sri Lankan government. India paid a heavy price for that with the life of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Now that the whole sordid drama has come to an end, Tamil sub-nationalism must be dealt with firmly and conclusively. Indian National Congress must develop its own presence in Tamil Nadu.

Bengali and Tamilian politicians do not seem to understand that Burma and Sri Lanka are two pillars of the ‘Gateway to India’. China has been drooling at the unique opportunity by the instability in both Burma and Sri Lanka. Our dumb politicians in either state do not care about India’s national security and play ethnic politics in other countries. India must have deep and widespread bilateral relations with Sri Lanka as well as Burma. We should develop huge trade with both countries even if we have to subsidize our imports. China is waiting in the wings to fill the void in all our neighbouring countries including Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. China has the means and money to stiff India out of all these countries. We are no more a third world country. India is not only growing as a regional power, it is likely to emerge as a major global power by the middle of this century. It is time we take our share of international obligations seriously and not look towards America or Russia for orders.

The Marathi ‘chipkali’ is not to be seen since 26/11!

Ever since the terrorist attack on Bombay, that little ‘chipkali’ from Maharashtra and his goons are not to be seen in Bombay. So much has happened since 26/11 in Bombay and around the country but not a word from that hideous little chipkali (Raj Thackeray) or his uncle Bal Thackeray! Did they get scared of the terrorists from Pakistan? Citizen rallies were organized and the electronic media was on an over-drive, yet no sign of ‘chacha bhatija’! Everyone was calling Bombay by its original name and not the Marathi concoction ‘Mumbai’, but no threats. They must be shit-scared not to come out of their hole! The worst news for these two is the removal of their buddies, Vilasrao Deshmukh and R R Patil from the scene. The new Chief Minister might can them.

Every tragedy must be used as an opportunity to do little bit better. That is the Japanese way, they try to do something better every day. I do not expect Bombay to change for the better. what I do expect is a little better ‘Coast Guard’ of India in terms of equipment and training.  So do I expect for the Bombay Police. Better weapons, safer bullet-proof jackets, bullet-proof vehicles and of course much better training for the entire force. The amount of money that we invest in our internal and external security would be directly proportional to the money we save from such terrorist attacks. This was not the first attack on our financial capital and this would not be the last one either. What we can do is to learn from our mistakes and improve our ‘crisis infrastructure’! Ratan Tata spoke about such a concept post 26/11 in Bombay.

The growing population of non-Marathi population is also a very welcome development for the metropolis. We saw scores of young people on the streets of Bombay protesting against the inefficient and corrupt state government post 26/11 attacks. The public pressure was such that even the impotent government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was forced to replace the two morons (Deshmukh &Patil). It is early to make any judgment about their replacements but they would be little more careful for some time at least. There is just too much at stake in Bombay and India Inc better come up with a working plan to get rid of these rural Marathis from governing our financial life-line. Bombay could be reconstituted as a state like Delhi or at least be governed by an executive Mayor. This is the time to THINK!

Understanding Mumbai Attacks : By Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie on 26/11

Buddhadeb needs to take care of his ‘mamata’!

Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, the Communist Chief Minister of West Bengal, has invested enormous political capital to industrialize the state and create tens of thousands of good-paying manufacturing jobs. Mamata Banerjee, the Chief of Trinamool Congress, dashed his hopes and the future of West Bengal by agitating against the Tata’s Nano Car Project and loosing it to the State of Gujarat. Should we feel sorry for him or West Bengal? Prakash Karat, General Secretary of CPI (M) and Buddhadeb’s party colleague, has done the same thing to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the country in general. With that yardstick, there is no difference between Mamata Banerjee and Prakash Karat, they both indulge in ’employment genocide’! The people of West Bengal are absolutely responsible for this sorry state of affairs by voting for criminals like Mamata and Karat. Maharashtra could face similar fate by encouraging thugs like Balasaheb and Raj Thackeray. The signs are all there.

The father of Modern West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya was born on March 1, 1944 in North Calcutta to a prominent Bengali family. He did his schooling at Sailendra Sirkar Vidyalaya and then went on to graduate from Presidency College, Kolkata in Bengali in 1964. He joined the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 1966 as a primary member. Bhattacharya started his career as a teacher at the Dum Dum Adarsh Vidya Mandir. Besides supporting the Vietnam’s cause in 1968, he took active part in the food movement. He was appointed State Secretary of the Democratic Youth Federation, the youth wing of the CPI (M) that was later merged into the Democratic Youth Federation of India. Buddhadeb was first elected in 1977 as Legislative Assembly Member from the Kashipur constituency. That was the first time the CPI (M)-led Left Front came to power in West Bengal. He was given the charge of Ministry of Information and Culture. After losing the 1982 assembly election from Kashipur, he changed his constituency to Jadavpur in 1987 and won comfortably.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharya was promoted as the Chief Minister of West Bengal on November 6, 2000, when Jyoti Basu decided to step down after serving as CM for 23 long years. This took place well ahead of the State Assembly elections due in May 2001. Buddhadeb enjoyed an image of a clean administrator and that once again brought victory to his party. The Left Front government was sworn in for the 6th term in May 2001, though with a much reduced majority. Bengal’s economy has been significantly liberalized after Buddhadeb Bhattacharya becoming the chief minister. He has brought in a lot of foreign investment to West Bengal.

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.

Lal Krishna Advani missed a great opportunity…

Every body knows that Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in general, and Lal Krishna Advani in particular, does not oppose the Indo-US nuclear deal in principle. If an identical deal was offered to NDA (National Democratic Alliance) when it was in power, BJP and it’s allies would have accepted the deal anytime. Then why this opposition? It is politics 101 as usual. Advani couldn’t help but take a dig at the Prime Minister during the no-confidence debate yesterday (July 22) that it is a payback time for Congress Party. He was absolutely right. The question is, does it help him in the current circumstances politically? This is where he and his party has made a big miscalculation. If Advani wants to be the next Prime Minister of India, he should have been much more magnanimous and above this petty squabble. Instead, he and his party appeared to be carrying Comrade Prakash Karat’s dirty diapers.

“NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government won a vote of confidence in parliament on Tuesday, ensuring the survival of the ruling coalition and a civilian nuclear deal with the United States.”

Did he really win the day? Not really! It does help India a bit at the moment, not to have early elections with high inflation and oil prices to deal with. Dr Manmohan Singh has got a small window to push the much needed reforms that the Left Parties were blocking all these years. If he fails to act now and that too not fast enough, he would miss an opportunity to leave a great legacy behind. He must seize the moment and show some backbone for a change. In the meantime, the Samajwadi Party (SP) that helped the government win the vote, is bound to extract a heavy price for their support. The question is how much is enough and what exactly is the price to be paid?

As far as the India-US nuclear deal is concerned, it is not a big deal either way. The deal is a covert NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) in disguise. But in context, it does not mean much. The United States, the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and the NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group) are not in a position to push around a country like India anymore. As far as ‘Nuclear Energy’ is concerned, it does not account for much, everyone knows that. The deal at best is symbolic. India could beat it’s chest that it has been granted a ‘Nuclear Power Status’ by the international community. George W Bush and his European allies could wink at each other and pretend that they have been able to ‘TAG’ India finally. The fact of the matter is that if India ever has to test a ‘Nuclear Weapon’ again, it would do so no matter what.