Enter Modi!!

A day before Independence Day CNN IBN made an opinion poll which clearly indicated that amidst the entire furore over corruption, the congress is still the most favored party to win the elections if they are held the very day. But politics is volatile. With the way the Anna issue was handled and the kind of social, political, emotional outbursts on the street, congress really needs to think of its positions clearly.

In spite of the in-house divide with the speculation of the new PM for 2014 assuming the congress can yield the numbers again, of the conflict between the ignorant-old-saint and the Amul baby, a lackadaisical attitude of pulling up the elections might have seeped into the congress. But I say never underestimate anything, even a stopped clock reads the time right twice a day

Two news articles on the Times of India website made me think out of this compulsion of a pro-congress mania that is evident because of the rotten state of other players

While one of them was underscoring an opinion poll by Star News that showed BJP has surged in thanks to the Anna movement, and the other being a wiki leak cable disclosing a silent approach to project Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi as a primeministerial candidate

The Bhartiya Janata Party had lost its aglow ever since Vajpayee put down his pads. The existing leaders are either irritants like Rajnath singh,or media savy politically dumb Sushma swaraj or the existing BJP president who is nothing more than a poster boy; Nitin gadakari

But this is one party that has had jewels like Vajpayee and posses people like Modi and Nitish kumar to name a few

The fact of the matter is that there is no better performer than Narendra Modi in India’s political structure. We all know what Gujarat has now become a state bustling buzzing with economic activities and life, an aftermath even of events like the bhuj earthquakes succeeding which immediately modi was elevated as a cm to the following of godhra riots

India is a land full of resources, intellects and everything that even the best supper power would loath of, but a lack of vision, the attitude of only being a problem solver with development only in the sense of resurrection and repairing of whatever wares we have is not the need of the hour

And here is a lot to learn from modi. He has a vision and he has some principles, he believes that the country has no apolitical strategy to confront terrorism.buisness is what keeps the people going and not emotions and sentiments as in West Bengal. And also to much liberty is not wise until the people bestowed on are not wise enough

Gujarat has developed into a pro business state; work culture subdues everything else and hence is the state progressing .But it’s not just the willingness to work but also the vision, the strategies of the people in the right places who are making things happen

Did you know almost all of the milk consumed in Singapore is supplied by Gujarat; or for that matter all the tomatoes that are eaten in Afghanistan are produced in Gujarat or the potatoes that Canadians gorge on are all farmed in Gujarat.

Having said what I have Gujarat has its history checkered with controversies and a kind of dominant rapo that modi has inflicted there. With the recent summoning of two IAS officers apparently whistleblowers in the godhra riot case, the apparent non consistent reports of the Banerjee panel and others may make us feel that he is a man who would have either his way or the highway. But in the present scenario that we are a little liberty curled here and there wouldn’t hurt much if we do look at the long term gains. Some have called him the Hitler of today, so be it, and Hitler raised a shattered Germany after the world war to a superpower in straight 20 years

But Narendra Modi has other issues to resolve first, if at all he is thinking of a national agenda. Narendra Modi is clearly a man in a hurry and he has every reason to be. There is no question in any one’s mind that he is the trump card for the BJP after Advani and Modi realises that but whenever modi has campaigned outside Gujarat it has usually been disastrous

Also post riots there is a kind off modi intolerance in the minor community more so outside Gujarat ,one because he is a member of RSS and two people outside Gujarat haven’t known the real character of modi,for had it not been so he couldn’t have been selected twice post godhra

Also there is some kind of media intolerance with respect to him. Editors like rajdeep sardesai and co haven’t been able to actually move ahead of godhra and keep revisiting the episode when it comes to modi. Hindustan times had the audacity to label him mass murderer weeks before the 2007 Gujarat elections. Also his outlook is pro-saffron.

Though im not completely satiated by the make shift government that runs us, bending at the slightest of arm-twisting by apolitical nobodies, but if be it someone other then the Nehru-Gandhi family ahead to lead us, it would be interesting to see, what this 61 year old visionary could do on a playground worth 1.3 billion people

Ramdev and his political asanas

Two years have passed since the 2009 Lok Sabha elections and UPA-2 looks in shambles ridiculed with scams, controversies and apparently weak leadership at the center. Perhaps this is a good time if one wants to enter politics for one it has ample of reasons to question the center and two if it does something good 2014 is not far away.

Corruption has been the buzz word. Not that it’s something new in the Indian scenario but unfortunately for the congress the bubbles are exploding quite to frequently. The fight for corruption took a head start with movement of Anna Hazaare and with the success of it a number of people who enjoy public lime light are now seeking an opportunity to cash in on politics

Baba Ramdev, changed the way Indians lived, for at least quite a large number of people. We spot people even in the general compartments of railways doing Kapalbharti and older women getting up at 6 o clock to catch a glimpse of him on Astha channel and try out some Pranayams to get rid of their backache. Baba has been successful in bringing about awareness about the strength and power of yoga, but the urge to diversify and to take his fame as guaranteed for his followings Baba now apparently seeks a political platform

But why a political platform? Politics especially in the Indian purview is about absolute power. I repeat what I have to say about power from my earlier posts, some believe money, but I say power is the world’s greatest aphrodisiac. Money doesn’t care who owns it. A bum can win it in a lottery, or a dunce can inherit it. But power is different, it is to own the world. It is to implement your own agendas. And Ramdev has agendas. He believes people who are homosexual are insane and proper mental check up is required. Time and again he has questioned the usage and quality of various products such as soft drinks, and if they are harmful so are liquors and all such things should be banned. He is a brand ambassador of yoga and ayurved and under his regime every hospital should have a yoga trainer and products from Patanjali Yog Peeth should take over Nestles and Johnsons

Questions might arise on my skepticism with respect to Baba, but I have my reasons for believing, more so because I have been avidly following him since my schooldays. Let’s look at his track record. First he appears on a religious channel twice a day and performs yoga. With the miracle of yoga more and more people become attached to him. He starts visiting places and organizing yoga camps with the motto of spreading awareness. Once he has received more than decent amount of lime light he urges people to contribute for his Patanjali Yog Peeth. His saffron robes more than the person helps fade away questions of doubt on the usage of this money. His shows that runs for an hour reduces to 40 minutes discussion on his yog peeth and the aspirations he has from it and 20mins of yoga for the people who pain stakingly come to see him. By 2007 products of Patanjali Yog Peeth were available in every nooks and corners of this country. Now for the past two years his yoga show has reduced into nothing more than a stage for political mudslinging. He speaks of statistics about students, patients and revenues in government offices; he speaks about measures and criticizes government moves. His political motives are more than clear now

Anna Hazaare stole the lime light with campaigning on corruption; his movement was a success, leaving Baba scratching his head. Hasan Ali’s case brought into the lime light the cases of black money and Baba sprang to action taking up this as a cause to enter politics

But Baba Ramdev is a Baba i.e. a saint and his work is not doing justice to the saffron robes he sports.

Saints are considered above human beings, they shun away all kinds of attachments and don’t desire for any kind of material comfort. They have patience and they never diverge from the path of ethics and goodness.

They don’t call themselves as the messenger of god as Baba did on the Ramlila Maidan, neither do they insist on arm twisting methodologies like hunger strikes. They show the path of healing and never undermine an authority by calling them cheats, liars, conspirators. They don’t move on to arm tactics whatever be the reason for so as Baba has urged that 20 young men from every district should come there. He will train them in both shahstra (vedas) and shastra (weapons).

We have had other saints and their area of social service has been remarkable, for example Satya Sai Baba.

Ramdev’s contribution to the evolution of yoga in India in the 21^st century is also remarkable but people should stick to whatever they are good at. We don’t want more diverse profiles in politics, we want changes

Development Politics vs Identity Politics

Any government democratic or otherwise has agendas and propagandas. Polices that eventually burns down to politics. Any political party and for that matter even the ruling class will have policies be it either classified as development politics or identity politics. Development politics, the name itself is quite clearly stating that the agendas are welfare oriented, were it’s the politics for the people by the people and of the people, policies can have a long term return or otherwise, but benefit to the society is the main aim.

Identity politics is more about establishing a political party as a brand and marketing itself to stay ahead of the competition, it has got to do with able politicians who started off on the development foot and the successors are just extending the name and benefits of the previous good work that has been done. Party and power are the main motives of the politics and development is there just at fag end.

Identity politics can me more clearly defined in the context of power monopoly where there exist only one main power and no strong opposition to control it. A case in point can be the politics in west Bengal with the CPI(M) ruling the state for 34yrs now. Parties at the time of election are just identified by the fact that they ruled for so long and so forth and no scope of developmental thinking is even induced, coz they know, they are at the mercy of these parties which are bound to be re elected and as said the development at the fag end has always been there. But CPI(M) didn’t start of as identity politics, in the very first opportunity to act as the power holders, they connected with masses mostly poor an crushed out the communist culture if any that pervaded in West Bengal at that time, private players and industries regardless of their backgrounds were considered enemies and stress was given on agriculture and allied works which instantly struck a cord with the poor masses that Bengal had ,which consisted of the waves of immigrants from Bangladesh that came in two different lots. But now as evident West Bengal had earned a reputation of non industrial state and the actions of communist feelings disregard for the rich even though not so cunning still prevades in the lower masses of West Bengal .With trade unions in full swing, bandhs and the power of the masses to spill blood at the slightest context has turned the communist people of Bengal into institutions of egos and irresponsibility. But as every cloud has a silver lining, change is sweeping in West Bengal, how competent the present strong opposition in West Bengal would be is yet to be tested on ground but the powerhouses have known identity politics isn’t gonna work anymore.

Another example of development politics overshadowing strong identity politics is the win of Nitish Kumar from Bihar. a state so pressed in the darkness, underdeveloped illiterate masses have now come to realize, that funny talks up the podium and the dose of entertainment that Mr. Lalu Prasad has been giving them in his sweet humorous tone is not gonna actually help them survive, where every other state is running into technology and development. People have realized that the unbound pool of resources in Bihar in the form of resources human or other needs to be tapped and development is the way ahead.

But more importantly the kind of politics played it’s the people who need to wake up from their limbo and have rational logical thoughts; the assessment of every bit in and around them is the need of the hour. If it can be preached politics developmental or identity will have to keep development as their fore most agenda