A Cartoon!

This isthe Cartoon in Today's (Sunday 28th Sept) 'Eenadu' (a telugu news daily) which resembles my previous post! (Courtesy: Eenadu Daily Dt.28th Sept, 2008)

Selective Colour Blindness!

(The recent clashes of Hindu-Christians in Karnataka and Orissa has caused much stirred discussion and debates in the news channels. There were warnings to the state governments by the Central Government of India, and the revoking of Article 355. The present article will focus on the implications on how (and why) the Central Government has reacted so. The author is not interested to discuss the details of the religions who were involved in the clashes: the goods and bads of who done what, but the actions of Central Government, which have left certain issues unanswered.)

Article 355 of the Indian Constitution states: "It shall be the duty of the Union to protect every state against external aggression and internal disturbance and to ensure that the government of every state is carried on in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution." And the following Article (356) empowers the Union to proclaim an emergency, dismissing the state legislature and the executive, in case of a breakdown of the "constitutional machinery" in that state.

Violence in Karnataka, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh is to be strongly condemned by anyone. Well, chaos in any place due to any reason at a large scale is bad for the society on whole. I am not interested to speak about some Hindu fanatics, or Islamic terrorists or aggressive Christian missionaries in my blog. But, I would rather limit myself to the political implications of the recent warnings of the Central Government to the state governments of the above mentioned states.

There was an organised violence in Kannur (Kerala) few months back. That was by mostly the Communists and it was on RSS supporters and BJP party members, ofcourse the latter too reacted vehemently on the agression. State has taken little steps to stop the violence. After that there was a huge violence in Maharastra on North Indians by MNS kaaryakarthas, on the basis of origin and linguistic differences among people. There was organised violence rampant for 2-3 days. State Govt. of Maharastra needed 'some' time to react to subjugate the terror, as the state govt. was not sure on how to react (to make sure that their vote bank is not disturbed).Thousands were displaced and terrorised. Quite recently we had the issue of Amarnath land issue in Kashmir. Peaceful protestors (who neither carried a gun nor a hand grenade) against the stance of a 'few' people, were beaten and shot by police; few killed and many injured. And all along, we have seen the Singur issue running over past several months. State Govt. was in dilemma on how to respond to it. We have seen protests national wide against the way State Govt. was acting, for different reasons though. Violence in Asom against the Hindi speaking people, was just seen as a 'small' seperatist act, and not noticed by the Centre. Violence on the Hindus by a few aggressive Chirstian missionaries in Tripura has not even been seen as a threat to peace. Now, the farmers of Andhra Pradesh face terrible crisis of fertilizers for their crops, which has ignited a state wide protests. And ironically the Central Government of India, ''fails" to notice all these! No threats, no warnings, no aritcle 355s.. nothing or such sort. But why? Doesn't it ring a bell? All these states are ruled by Congress or its allies (read: the Left)!

Mr.Naveen Patnaik, the CM of Orissa, has made an interesting statement in this outset. He says the Central Govt. hasnt responded properly to their plea for help when there is an outbreak of violence in Orissa. "We had asked the Centre for para-military forces to be deployed in Kandhamal. But they have been slow in dispatching forces to us," said the Chief Minister after the state government received a letter from the Home Ministry of GoI.

"Protection of minorities and restoring law and order is our top priority," said Mr.Gupta, the secretary of Home ministry. But, I would have been happier if the Hon.ble. Dept. of Home ministry says protection of 'citizens' rather than 'minorities'. I hope they would notice that we do pay taxes in equal proportion for the Government.

The fact is this: It is a shared responsibility of Central and State Government to ensure peace in society. Whenever there is a violence in any place within the boundaries of Indian Union, it is also the Centre's responsibility to ensure peace by supporting and assisting the State. Afterall, we pay taxes to support Police and paramilitary forces to ensure the internal security, and not for the 'Tamasha' of all these mutual mud slinging of state and centre.

5 Reasons: Why Chiranjeevi can't be the change maker!

(This blog is not about commenting whether Chiranjeevi would win the election or not. The central theme of this essay would lie on what the title implies, on why the 'Mega-star' cant be the catalyst for the change, as his party or his fans claims it to be. Let me define 'CHANGE' as I perceive from PRP's claims: "Change according to PRP is the step/endeavours towards a corruptionless and divisionless society". For all those who are fans of him, the author would like them to patiently go through the essay, before drawing their conclusions. Comments and suggestions are welcome!)

The 55 year old 'Mega star' Chiranjeevi atlast had this Political 'aarangetram' after the suspence and drama for an year. Though his first speech in Tirupathi, hasn't been too impressive, as compared to the much hype and arrangements which went into it, the event is surely a land mark in AP's politics. It is for the second time, a big screen supremo lauching his party in Andhra Pradesh, after the late NTR has started TDP in 80s.
Chiranjeevi is well admired in Andhra Pradesh for his movies and some of his social service activities. I too admire few of his movies. Let us keep the admiration aside for the sake of politics. Now, in this article, I wouldnt like to elaborate on my predictions on who is going to be the next CM of the state. There are chances even for this actor-turned politician to become the next CM of AP. However, I would like to comment on why Chiranjeevi CANNOT be the change maker, as his party claims. Let me elucidate on it point wise.

1. The very entrance of Chiranjeevi into politics has strengthened the Kapu caste politics. Some have dubbed his entry as the Kapu caste's cry for the power. So far Chiranjeevi hasnt made any statement condemning this. It is clear that he wouldnt like to hurt his Kapu vote bank, which means that he atleast wouldnt stand for what his party terms as, "Divisionless society".

2. As he initially told, he seems to be not standing for the concept of new and fresh 'blood' into politics. It was also stated that, his party stands for a change, and no place for the 'party-hoppers'. The party promised 80% of the tickets to the fresh men, which we need to wait and watch for. But, as from what we can see so far, most of the key leaders now in PRP are from TDP and a few from Congress, and most of the leaders of PRP in Northern coastel districts of Andhra are primarily who were dissatisfied by their earlier parties, as they werent successful to get a ticket.

3. His party is also doesnt seem to stand for the 'clean' politics as they have initially claimed. The leaders like Bhooma Nagi Reddy, Thota Trimurthulu have a criminal record as per a notification released by Loksatta before the 2004 general election, which implies that Chiru hasn't been very keen on this parameter.

4. Chiranjeevi's party has never expressed its interest towards forming an alliance or urged support from the JP led Loksatta party. Although, we can say that there could have been a possibility of 'ideological differences', but seeing the recent entrants into the party, I believe, ideological differences is definitely not the issue.

5. Chiranjeevi hasn't opened up his ideas and thoughts on the issues like Naxalism and Telangana so far. Although, it doesnt reflect an amibgious mind, but he seems to be too cautious about their effect on his election results. If, he is not bold enough on these issues, it would only mean that he is too worried about the outcomes of his responses or stances.

Well, Chiru can be an alternative in the present political scenario of the state. No doubt about that. Yes, He might be a 3rd alternative from the Congress and TDP. But, terming it as a CHANGE, is probably is big word.

TDP in troubled waters!

(After the advent of Praja Rajyam Party(PRP) into the political arens of Andhra Pradesh, the worst affected party is Telugu Desam Party (TDP). As we can see, almost 90% of the PRP's high command belongs to TDP's ex. It would be interesting to see how TDP's chief would come out to combat this.)

Few of the small or two tier leaders in Andhra Pradesh, are sure that a 'Nama-smarana' would give them power (or atleast money): That is Telangana. It all started with Mr.Chandrasekhara Rao, who came a long way in the politics, from just being an MLA of TDP. Thanks to his caprice, we havent seen any progress in either Telangana or Telangana issue. But, it has won a great mileage for his political career and probably to his family also.
Since then, lot of people became interested in the issue: starting from the Telangana Congress MLAs, then BJP, Ms.Vijayashanti till the latest ex-TDP leader, Mr.Devendra Gowd. All of these want to 'bring' Telangana.
Apart from this issue, which broke TDP twice, once by MR.Chandrasekhara Rao and later by Mr.Devender Gowd, TDP has seen only 'lows' in the past 5 years. After being in power for nine consecutive years, its ironic to see TDP struggling to maintain itself intact for just one period of opposition.
With the new political debutante Mr.Chiranjeevi, TDP had two loose its district level leaders to him. Tammineni Sita Ram, Bhooma Nagi Reddy, Ramachandrayya, Trimurthulu are some of the significant people who left the party for the new color. This definitely is a matter of headache to Mr.Naidu on how to prevent these 'party-hops'.
After being a stauch 'Samaikya Andhra' supporter, TDP cader finds it tough to voice the pro-Telangana state formation this elections. On top of that, Mr.Naidu's plans of striking an alliance with TRS, is much to the distaste of most of the TDP's members.
Another embarrasing situation was the No-confidence voting at the Centre. While Mr.Naidu was busy playing strategies at the central level by his UNPA, 2 out of his 5 MPs has voted pro-Congress. Though the reunion of NTR family for the sake of the elections could be benifitting TDP, we will have to wait and see, how far they can pull it up.
We have to admit that its really tough to 'stay' in opposition for a Regional party, unless it has an alliance at the National level. That is because, the party cannot keep its cader happy, by giving them some central level posts like Governors, Rajya sabha seats, Central ministries etc., as in the case of a National party. Probably, Mr.Naidu would regret for not being with BJP!
But, its also clear that its not tough to win an election inspite of all this. Afterall, Mr.NTR has won the power with entirely new set of people and he built the party cader of TDP.

Hyderabad Liberation Day! When was it?

(Another interesting event in the recent past! Most of us has left it unnoticed; well, even if we did, that was because of our Telangana voices. And as usual, why we didnt know much about it? I think the readers can take a good guess!)

We have just finished 60 years of Hyderabad Liberation from Nizam by this September 17th, 2008. More or less, the state left it unnoticed, except for a few 24 hrs news channels and news papers. The most of the people were unaware of it.
The pro-Telangana parties have celebrated it on a large scale. Ms.Vijayashanti also made it into news. The other 'undecided' parties like Telugu Desam Party and Praja Rajyam Party did a small celebration in their headquarters. Congress(I) was 'tranquil', ofcourse so does Muslim League of Hyderabad. ABVP's cries and protests ended up in arrests and Lathi charges.
Coming to the liberation, I havent learnt about it in my books. Though, there is a possibility of over-looking, I havent found a significant no of pages being dedicated to Hyderabad liberation in either CBSE or the State syllabus history books. And I wasnt a bad student of history afterall.
We probably havent learnt of Hyderabad liberation, because of 2 reasons. One was due to the credit to be given to Sardar Vallabbai Patel, and the second one, which is more significant, is the nature and details involved in the very movement in itself. Well, I wouldnt elaborate it further, but I would recommend to search for details about the movement to get more insight into it and to understand what I meant.
But one thing was the resultant of all: we didnt get into the trouble of having a mini-pakisthan in the heart of deccan. On a lighter note, we didnt miss the Hyderabadi Biryani!

Defenceless Home - Spineless Home minister

(The blasts in Ahmedabad, Delhi and now which probably aims Mumbai, only means a huge setback for the central policies on Defence. The present 'ever-ambigious' centre which seems to be always in dilemma on acting on terrorism, now needs to answer lot of questions about their citizen's security.)

The centre seems to be always worried on how to react to terrorism. They always seemed to be confused between terrorism and its links to Islam. We must realise that terrorism in any form which is dangerous to the lives of citizens must be seriously stopped by the Government, no matter which organisation, religion or caste they represent.
But, the actions of the centre only reflect their dilemma over the action against 'sensitive' vote bank. The Afzal Guru case also represents that, and we see this attitude of the appeasement program, where it means a lot: Kashmir.
J&K CM Ghulam Nabi Azad of the Congress, Communist and local political groups voiced their support of clemency for Afzal. It is alleged many have done so to appease Muslim voters in Kashmir. Ms.Mehabooba Mufti goes a step forward. She said that if clemency appeals were made for Sarabjit citing his Indian nationality, voices should also be raised for Afzal for "he too is an Indian citizen. "Two citizens of India cannot be treated with different yardsticks" she had said. But, little they understand that there is a huge difference. And our Home minister Shivraj Patil has said that Guru's mercy petition is pending with Delhi Government and it may have "some reasons" in delaying the decision. Wow! the Government of India and the Government of Delhi, which is run 'ironically' by Congress, has always got "some reasons" to delay the matters of security! He also adds that, "On controlling terrorism in the country, the police forces here were not trained to fight a battle against terrorist and they need to be trained for it." Well, after 5 years of staying as Home minister, only Mr.Patil can dare to speak like a consultant.
We all admit that security of the whole nation is a gargantuan task. But, at the same time, I would like to question what significant moves have been taken to mitigate this burning problem of today. For instance, Right to Information Act is a significant move to eradicate Corruption. 108 services was a good step to help out the emergency medical problems. But, what about security?
I wouldnt see POTA as a panacea of all the security problems. But, by just thrashing down POTA with no replacement wouldnt be seen as a sensible move. Mr.Patil is undoubtfully an over-hyped and ill-performing minister in the Congress ministry, who is definitely good at one thing: FLATERRY!.

The Nuclear Fiasco

(A blog after many days! The author was busy with his life for the last 2-3 months. There has been many interesting changes in the political opera over the past few months. One of them being 123 deal of India and US)

Let me not comment on the pros and cons of the deal, but the following things are clear; The left is not happy with the deal, not because we gain or loss, its just because the deal is with Americans. Had it been a Chinese proposals, our Communists would have danced well for the chinese tremulos well. Ofcourse, the outcome of their agitation might be good, although I am not sure how long the Communists will stay away from UPA. The reunion might have been scheduled just after Election'09.
Dr.APJ has said something noteworthy quite a few days back. He says that a Nuclear deal is envitable to survive the growing demands of Energy in India. But, thanks to our UNPA and media, the statements by the 'missile man' are carefully modified and 'tuned' pro-123 deal. However, it has also been made clear that creating a third option at the National level needs lot of dedication and sacrifice for the longer term goals. As expected, the other regional parties were thrown into tough situation by the decision of Mulayamji.
BJP has stuck to its stance quite well and clearly over the past few months on the deal. But, its sad that they failed to bring the issue closer to the public's notice, and explain the relevance and importance of the deal. Again, ignorance among the NDA's cadure is clear; as very few MPs seems to even know what it means. A very few like Arun shourie and Arun Jaitley seems to have voiced their opinion publicly against the deal quite clearly. The lotus party must realise that its their responsibility to educate their own MPs about the present issues.