I really wonder on what grounds are Lalus and Mulayams protesting against the Women’s Bill. Their argument, is unconvincing and shaky. Even ideally, if for a moment, we think that poor Dalit women were to be indeed elected I’d damned if our highest governing bodies were to be made up of women who are absolutely illiterate and work as maids or do some such menial jobs. I really do not have anything against them but they do not have the aptitude or ability for this job, not as of now at least. As for my maid, I’m thankful to God if she completes my household chores satisfactorily, leave aside managing the country.

Posted on March 10th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: bill, BJP, Congress, Dalit, Left, quota, reservation, women. Comments: 10

RJD and SP have withdrawn support and their Rajya Sabha MPs have openly said that they will do anything implying physical disruption to stop the bill from being passed. After initial hesitation JD(U) has come around to supporting it thanks to Nitish Kumar. While there is no doubt that Lalu and Mulayam Singh do have a right to protest and they may have some logic in their argument as well but frankly speaking, their protests have very little to do with logic or their good wishes for women of Muslim community or Dalits for that matter, whose cause they seem to be espousing.

Posted on March 8th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: bill, BJP, BSP, Congress, reservation, RJD, SP, women. Comments: 4

It is quite ironical that while we expect Pakistan to act against LeT, JeM and other such terrorist organisations operating from Pakistan to create terror in India our own political leaders are reluctant to act against Maoists who are nothing but terrorists, in my view. They may have a just cause or they may basically be Hindus but their methods are wrong. If killing innocent villagers, govt officials/ policemen and detonating bombs is not terrorism, what is? If this is indeed terror why is our response to these activities any different than what it is against LeT, JeM, HUJI and others? Is it because Maoists are not exactly demanding a separate country, yet? Or is it because they are also fulfilling some political objectives of certain politicians?

Posted on February 21st, 2010 under India calling. Tags: attack, BJP, Congress, maoists, Naxal, Silda, terrorist, threat. Comments: 7

Nearly fifty years ago when Shiv Sena came into being it was on Marathi Manoos plank, basically directed at South Indians within Mumbai at that time. That the agenda has not changed in the last fifty years, though the target has, shows the lack of growth within the party both intellectually and physically. And this despite the fact that they have been in power in the state. Another indicator of their lack of their growth are their strained relations with RSS and BJP, who have quite categorically said that Mumbai belongs to India and not just Mumbaikars. A couple of years ago this would have been unthinkable. Also, it is rather ironical that Shiv Sena is desperately trying to spread it’s base into other parts of the country as well. With the kind of approach they have vis-a-vis Mumbai are they implying that their own members who are from outside Maharashtra are not welcome in Mumbai? I mean, wouldn’t that be a shame?

Posted on February 8th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: Congress, Gandhi, growth, Mumbai, Rahul, Shiv sena, SRK, Thakeray. Comments: 5

We all love expressing ‘concerns’. Our Congress govt too loves to express ‘concern’. The Australian High Commissioner to India has also expressed his ‘concern’. The Aussie PM Kevin Rudd has also done the same. Tell you what, I give a rat’s ass to these concerns. It doesn’t mean a damn thing. Do you know why? It’s because the Aussies do not agree that they were racist attacks. They call it ‘opportunistic’ attacks. My bloody foot! When you have petrol bombs thrown at your home you got to be an absolute moron to call it ‘opportunistic attack’. And what about more than 500 attacks which have taken place in Australia in the last few years out of which more than 100 have been in the last one year alone? Were they all ‘opportunistic attacks’? Bullshit. May be a few could have been routine robberies or muggings but most of them were plain racist. The pattern is there for all to see. And by the way, a recent survey by BBC says that Aussies have been rated as the most sinful country in the developed world. They have been ranked first overall in a study of the seven deadly sins - lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride. They are in top ten in six and first in, you got it, envy. These attacks are a reflection of this very sin which these guys are very good at.

Posted on February 1st, 2010 under India calling. Tags: attack, Aussie, Australia, Congress, crime, hate, punish, racism, study. Comments: 9

The second flavor of this season after 3 Idiots is for sure Shashi Tharoor. The man is in a class of his own. And it is not cattle class but a classwhich is much above the national class where you and me alongwith our media live and thrive. The man has got it all. He’s wealthy. He’s well educated and he has a mind of his own. As is obvious his credentials are absolutely impeccable but the factor which really sets him apart is his command over English language. It’s actually a treat to listen to a minister in the Indian govt speaking in such fluent English. Unfortunately, it is this command over English language which has put him in a thick soup time and again.

Posted on January 12th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: Congress, controversy, Tharoor. Comments: 4

Jayanthi Natarajan will have us believe that indeed Congress does not prefer compulsory voting. She wrote an article Compulsory Voting in The Deccan Chronicle on 04 Jan 10 in response to Narendra Modi’s initiative to make voting compulsory in local body elections. She says that in a democracy voting should not be imposed on anyone. She also says that if people don’t really want to vote for anyone why should they be made to take the trouble of going to the polling booth and punch in ‘none of the above’. Well, her and her party’s stand, if indeed it is Congress’s stand as well, is rather understandable. Here are some numbers which will clarify why Congress and Jayanthi Natarajan do not want voting to be made compulsory.

Posted on January 5th, 2010 under Best Articles, India calling. Tags: BJP, Congress, copulsory, elections, Modi, Narendra, voting. Comments: 10

No decision taken is a decision in itself. As you would be aware, those words are associated with our former PM PV Narasimha Rao. And these words ring so true for the demolition of Babri Masjid. He decided not to do anything to prevent the demolition not because he was unaware or he was too weak to do anything but because he actually wanted the structure to come down for the sake of Congress more than anything else. He knew that once the structure is gone BJP may seem to be victorious in the short term but eventually they would loose, as we have seen since then. It is for this reason that I say that BJP should not have demolished Babri Masjid. Not because it was incorrect to do so, which it was, but because once the masjid came down they lost a major rallying point on which they could swing public opinion in their favor. With the masjid now gone they do not really have anything which they can use for this purpose. Narasimha Rao saw this while he was ‘daydreaming’ as correctly put by the Liberhan Commission, but in the wrong context.

Posted on January 4th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: Babri, BJP, Congress, demolition, Liberhan, Masjid, religion, temple. Comments: 12

If you really see both these recommendations are contrary to each other. On one hand you say that we should grant them autonomy and on the other you say that a referendum should be held in J&K to decide if and when Article 370 should be removed. I mean whom are you kidding? Autonomy is nothing but an extension of Article 370 itself. By giving autonomy, the resolution of NC clearly implies that, Kashmir would be “affiliated” to India for only defense, currency, foreign affairs and communication. In other words they would have all other powers like stipulating laws, having a separate flag, their own anthem, citizenship and property rights etc etc. Please note that they already have most of these powers by way of Article 370. Autonomy will only make the state govt more powerful on this score, something like ’state within a state’. If you grant them autonomy Article 370 would as it is become redundant in the state. They would enact their own more stringent laws wherein they may deny even Kashmiri pundits their right to own property in the valley. And the govt at the center would not be able to do anything in the matter. So what referendum are we talking about?

Posted on December 26th, 2009 under India calling. Tags: autonomy, BJP, Congress, J&K, NC, Omar, panel, report, Telengana. Comments: 4