Regionalism has become a key factor in
The nation’s political one-upmanship
What are the prime movers and shakers of the political scene in India? What influences elections? Is it money? Is it caste? Is it regionalism? Is it the communal card? Is it good governance? Is it the image of the parties and the image of their leaders? Is it hunger, is it jobs, created or lost, is it poverty, is it distress on the farms or prosperity? Is it all of these in some way, but do cash and caste appear to stand out, especially in the game of vote banks and voter influence? Without money or big bucks, no party can expect to go far. In some way political outfits are like corporate outfits, with hierarchies and designations and positions starting at the top and going down to the district, taluka and village level. At voting time or prior to that and afterwards, doles and drink, leave alone apparel, play no smart part? But nobody thinks or talks about these any more and takes them for granted as an unavoidable and necessary evil.
The just completed round of Assembly elections in six States bring several issues to the fore, but caste, often sought to be played down in the context of the New Millennium and changing world, continues to play its part. The major national parties benefit from it directly or indirectly or hurt by it by a relatively new player, who seeks to corner the downtrodden Scheduled Castes to show its political muscle. In some Assembly elections in the previous two or three years, the BJP won more seats in Gujarat, Himachal and Karnataka than it did on its own because some of the caste votes defeated Congress by narrow margins in those three States. But in November, quite surprisingly, the BJP got the rough edge in the Delhi Assembly voting by losing a good ten seats to the Congress because Ms. Mayawati’s vote bank won her just a few seats for her own candidates, but influenced the result of the two main contenders.
Will this trend be visible in the elections to the Lok Sabha in the next summer, which will be one of the biggest political show in the world in the year 2009 with several hundred million voters going to the polls in what is known as the largest democracy of the world.
Already, the world has seen the most dazzling election in the US where 100 million voters chose a new President after two years of hectic electioneering. The cost: billions of dollars, which included a dinner plate costing up to $5,000 apiece for the opportunity to be able to sit very close to the hopeful President. Massive contributions were made to the election funds openly and publicly in America. That does not happen or is not openly discussed in Indida, but without money, and big money, election contests are just not feasilble.
The Election Commission has no doubt built up a code of conduct and with the consent of political parties it has set limits to spending on the process of wooing and winning voters. There has been much talk of government funding of elections and weeding out corruption from the process. But that remains a distant prospect. Corrupt practices or overspending in the process of electioneering are at times issues taken to courts to unseat a winning candidate, but one hears less of it now because inflation has made it difficult and not worth the while of losers to go to courts.
Inclusive politics or associating the man in the street or aam adami in the process of decision making is a mantra that political parties and governments chant, but is it a lot of idealism like the Communist or some other parties’ socialistic ideology? At times, this may cut ice, at other times not. There is also the jargon of nationalism, rising above limited loyalties. When the parties win elections, they take credit of this factor, when they do not, they don’t talk about it. But the fact remains that regional parties in nearly half of India hold sway and the national parties are forced to bring these regional outfits into the mainstream to form a coalition government or remain some kind of an alliance even in the Opposition.
In this larger picture and in spite of divisive and diversionary trends, is India a functioning democracy, alive and kicking or is it flawed and agonized, ever trying to overcome the slings and arrows of harsh realities of 40 per cent of more than a billion people surviving or not surviving on the bare necessities and at times without them?
In the light of this, has the ongoing economic recession and still fairly high energy and commodity prices, especially for the citizen, become a crucial issue for the elections at the national level? There is a downturn no doubt, there have been job losses and there is pain among the populace and the leadership admits to it. It may not have been much of an issue in the State Assembly elections, but could be ruled out at the national level? Will the recent mayhem created by terrorists, leaving a trail or death and destruction also become one of the core issues? Will the government’s response to these crises convince the voters that the rulers are agile and active? Time will tell.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Does Brack Obama have a magic wand or Aladin's lamp?
The world, including India, may be entitled to wish and dream that Barack Obama will be able to wield a magic wand and with it the woes that it faces will vanish, especially the economic crisis.
This is a time of great euphoria, great hopes and reality tends to remain in suspension, not even in animated suspension.
Realities, harsh realities of bread and butter, or sheer survival, have to be winked away by millions in stupor over the most gorgeous Presidential inauguration, costing 150 million dollars.
What is or how much is 150 million dollars for the greatest spectacle on earth, with millions watching the extravaganza around the world, most of them sitting in front of their TVs?
It is the display of the American dream, American power, come alive for days, weeks, months and possibly two years backwards.
To come down to the ground without a hard landing after all the church going, chanting and singing, dancing and partying, the question that comes to mind is: does Barack Obama have a magic wand? Or does he have the Alladin’s Lamp, if one were to change the metaphor?
Yes, perhaps. So say all of them. So say all of us. He’s a jolly good fellow, full of promise, full of hype, full of youth, full of brains, full of brains trusts, the best team that could be assembled on the face of it. So why can’t this team work miracles.
In spite of Barack Obama’s warning that the crises that the world and America face can’t be wished away nor overcome in a year or even in his present term of four years. The problems are too great, too big to reckon, to big to counter, yet hope springs eternal in human breast and man must never give up trying like the proverbial spider. He will keep trying and he will not give up. Experts have pointed out that the world economic recession will remain for the current year and continue for one year more before a turnaround can be expected. Whether it will materialize or not is another matter.
India may in a small way be not overly affected, but being part of the global economy, it cannot escape the consequences of what is happening in America, Europe as demand and sales slide not only in the west, but even in India. The very rich and famous may be dining and wining, but are they also engaged in impulse buying even though new luxury brands of European cars manage to sell a few pieces and can be seen in the streets of New Delhi and South Delhi as well as other cities of India. But that does not count for much.
On the economic front, the Barack Obama magic will be at work with massive release of money to banks, big corporations and other vested interests and these will run into hundreds of billions, possibly a few trillions of dollars year after year to save America. Poor and middle class Americans will receive $300 billion in tax refunds so that they can spend it in the marketplace and save industry and retail trade. Similar handouts may also be in the pipeline at budget time in July, but it has been made clear that the rich and super rich will be spared of new taxes or higher income tax because they have the power to call the shots in the system of governance and no ruler can afford to earn their ire or displeasure. They move the wheels of the economy. They are the key advisers and they are heard with respect. They are also the contributors to the political system and no election can be won without their support. The new President received big top dollar in the election campaign in the past two years.
President Obama will also seek to save American jobs rather than transfer work by outsourcing to Bangalore or other destinations around the world, though this will happen slowly, but some out-sourcing to India has already been affected by recession in the US and Europe.
In an important area, certain things are becoming clear, especially for India and Indians and their rulers might do well to realize what the American priorities are for South Asia.
What are they? These are being made clear by Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the new Secretary of State and foreign policy czar, as well as the British Foreign Secretary, Mr. David Milliband, repeatedly while in India and later in Washington, where he attended the great inaugural show. These are that Afghanistan is of prime importance and surge in international troops to curb Al Qaida and Taliban has top priority. This in their perceptions brings Pakistan in focus and makes it a centerpiece of their policy formulations, implying thereby that the Mumbai terrorist attacks of 26/11 are a big, even if not minor, irritant in the geopolitics of this region. Mr. Milliband is important in carrying forward the American initiatives in South Asia as Britain has clout with more than 50 nations of the Commonwealth.
The implication is also that Pakistan is not considered a rogue State and will not be treated as such even if it will continue to come under pressure to do more to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure in mainland Pakistan and occupied areas of Kashmir. Pakistan will continue to be bailed out of its financial crisis with IMF and World Bank as well as American doles. India will receive a lot of words of sympathy, a lot of support, a great many high profile visits, but also some sermons at the same level as Pakistan.
India has been boasting that in the George Bush era, the hyphened status of this nation by the world powers had ended, but that is no longer true. It is being made clear that in view of the enormous importance of the Afghan war, the need to woo Pakistan and use its good offices is enormous and its tantrums and threats will be quietly tolerated and responded with counter-threats, bellicose they might well be on both sides. India would do well to take these factors into its calculations in dealings with the world, especially America.
Mrs. Hillary Clinton will carry forward the legacy of her husband, Bill Clinton, who as President, was not sympathetic to India for more than seven years of the eight years of his Presidency and when he came to India in the last lap of Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, he expressed great friendship, which did not translate into any concrete action. His wife may well be tougher as the points person of the foreign policy with her hard-nosed deputies traveling to Indian shores.
This is a time of great euphoria, great hopes and reality tends to remain in suspension, not even in animated suspension.
Realities, harsh realities of bread and butter, or sheer survival, have to be winked away by millions in stupor over the most gorgeous Presidential inauguration, costing 150 million dollars.
What is or how much is 150 million dollars for the greatest spectacle on earth, with millions watching the extravaganza around the world, most of them sitting in front of their TVs?
It is the display of the American dream, American power, come alive for days, weeks, months and possibly two years backwards.
To come down to the ground without a hard landing after all the church going, chanting and singing, dancing and partying, the question that comes to mind is: does Barack Obama have a magic wand? Or does he have the Alladin’s Lamp, if one were to change the metaphor?
Yes, perhaps. So say all of them. So say all of us. He’s a jolly good fellow, full of promise, full of hype, full of youth, full of brains, full of brains trusts, the best team that could be assembled on the face of it. So why can’t this team work miracles.
In spite of Barack Obama’s warning that the crises that the world and America face can’t be wished away nor overcome in a year or even in his present term of four years. The problems are too great, too big to reckon, to big to counter, yet hope springs eternal in human breast and man must never give up trying like the proverbial spider. He will keep trying and he will not give up. Experts have pointed out that the world economic recession will remain for the current year and continue for one year more before a turnaround can be expected. Whether it will materialize or not is another matter.
India may in a small way be not overly affected, but being part of the global economy, it cannot escape the consequences of what is happening in America, Europe as demand and sales slide not only in the west, but even in India. The very rich and famous may be dining and wining, but are they also engaged in impulse buying even though new luxury brands of European cars manage to sell a few pieces and can be seen in the streets of New Delhi and South Delhi as well as other cities of India. But that does not count for much.
On the economic front, the Barack Obama magic will be at work with massive release of money to banks, big corporations and other vested interests and these will run into hundreds of billions, possibly a few trillions of dollars year after year to save America. Poor and middle class Americans will receive $300 billion in tax refunds so that they can spend it in the marketplace and save industry and retail trade. Similar handouts may also be in the pipeline at budget time in July, but it has been made clear that the rich and super rich will be spared of new taxes or higher income tax because they have the power to call the shots in the system of governance and no ruler can afford to earn their ire or displeasure. They move the wheels of the economy. They are the key advisers and they are heard with respect. They are also the contributors to the political system and no election can be won without their support. The new President received big top dollar in the election campaign in the past two years.
President Obama will also seek to save American jobs rather than transfer work by outsourcing to Bangalore or other destinations around the world, though this will happen slowly, but some out-sourcing to India has already been affected by recession in the US and Europe.
In an important area, certain things are becoming clear, especially for India and Indians and their rulers might do well to realize what the American priorities are for South Asia.
What are they? These are being made clear by Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the new Secretary of State and foreign policy czar, as well as the British Foreign Secretary, Mr. David Milliband, repeatedly while in India and later in Washington, where he attended the great inaugural show. These are that Afghanistan is of prime importance and surge in international troops to curb Al Qaida and Taliban has top priority. This in their perceptions brings Pakistan in focus and makes it a centerpiece of their policy formulations, implying thereby that the Mumbai terrorist attacks of 26/11 are a big, even if not minor, irritant in the geopolitics of this region. Mr. Milliband is important in carrying forward the American initiatives in South Asia as Britain has clout with more than 50 nations of the Commonwealth.
The implication is also that Pakistan is not considered a rogue State and will not be treated as such even if it will continue to come under pressure to do more to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure in mainland Pakistan and occupied areas of Kashmir. Pakistan will continue to be bailed out of its financial crisis with IMF and World Bank as well as American doles. India will receive a lot of words of sympathy, a lot of support, a great many high profile visits, but also some sermons at the same level as Pakistan.
India has been boasting that in the George Bush era, the hyphened status of this nation by the world powers had ended, but that is no longer true. It is being made clear that in view of the enormous importance of the Afghan war, the need to woo Pakistan and use its good offices is enormous and its tantrums and threats will be quietly tolerated and responded with counter-threats, bellicose they might well be on both sides. India would do well to take these factors into its calculations in dealings with the world, especially America.
Mrs. Hillary Clinton will carry forward the legacy of her husband, Bill Clinton, who as President, was not sympathetic to India for more than seven years of the eight years of his Presidency and when he came to India in the last lap of Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, he expressed great friendship, which did not translate into any concrete action. His wife may well be tougher as the points person of the foreign policy with her hard-nosed deputies traveling to Indian shores.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Memory lane
Believe it. Yet don’t. Check it out.
Is it true Winston Churchill was an expert layer in early life in the 19th century?
Is it true he was The Pioneer war correspondent in the north-west frontier of India in early 1890s around Peshwar?
The Pioneer, the top British paper during the Raj, sold for four annas or 25 paise per copy while other British-owned paper sold for two paise or one anna. Published then from Allahabad, moved overnight to Lucknow later without missing a day’s publication or edition.
Later Sir Winston, the King’s First Lord of the Treasury (the title on the door of No.10 Downing Den), the war-time hero who saw the nation’s Finest hour in the challenge it faced when England was down in the dumps in World War II with Hitler’s warplanes bombed London and the rest of Britain. The man who said he was not around to preside over the liquidation of the Empire, least of all lose the Jewel in the Crown. Not give 400 million of Indians their freedom at the end of the war.
Mania
Life is mania. Without, it’s un-life. Boring. Bizarre. Empty.
Great mania of today: cricket. Baseball.
But both don’t. Could they ever overtake football.
Is it mania for money?
Poor pagans?
Poor Indians. Sun-worshipping pagans. Deserving to be rescued. Not just from squalor. But even from mistaken beliefs and faiths? Persisting with them for ever? Yet to be liberated: by the forward looking. Freed from mistaken beliefs and faiths? So think modern minds. How will the saviors do it? By unleashing their own thought processes? Their own new light? How and when? Or is it already being done? In noticeable, and not so visible little ways just now. But rescue and liberation, will it gather speed?
Yet how many thinkers of the west have delved deep into Oriental, even Indian, thought to look for new insights into the secrets of the Universe?
Wordsworth even spoke of pantheism and panentheism. Many others have inquired into life after death: rebirth. Soul force.
Yet how many thinkers of the west have delved deep into Oriental, even Indian, thought to look for new insights into the secrets of the Universe?
Wordsworth even spoke of pantheism and panentheism. Many others have inquired into life after death: rebirth. Soul force.
Mother earth
c. mother earth. Unc. Loaded mother earth. Overloaded. By footfalls. By devices. Trillions upon trillions. Bearing the burden of ever-rising piles of waste. Mountains of them. Billion of tons. Or is it trillions of tons. C. Land, see, air. Wallowing in it.
Poor little mother earth. A speck in the universe. Yet crowded. By life and un-life. Filled by filth. Zillions of tons. New waste. Even by beauties created by art, science, fiction. All momentary in the big time span. But for discard ultimately. Not really for preservation.See it all for some time. Un-c when eyes see no more. Nor wish to c. unc.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Aussie cribbing
Aussie cribbing
Aussie loss of form. Near wholesale? Is that why they are livid? After rout by Springboks. And on home ground. And they blamed it on the IPL. Curse of the IPL! Sydney Morning Herald put out quotes from Down Under: the devil at work.
Brett Lee not delivering, now hurt and injured. Ricky became rickety Ponting, Symonds et al in the dumps. Hayden forced to quit. A hoodoo over them all. Take it out on somebody. Who better than the Indians, the all time whipping boys.
Yet, give the devil his due. IPL rediscovered Shane Watson, David Hussey and Marsh for the Kangaroos. They are in the team. Some retired Aussies are making hay in the Indian sunshine: Shane Warne, Gilespie and McGarth steady as ever, even if not getting many wickets, but tormenting batsmen. And delivering many clones.
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