Do you guys know why we have military exchange programs with any country? Well, we have such programs with those countries with whom we envisage a scenario where our troops would be operating together to achieve a common goal. That is the reason we have such programs with US, UK, Russia, Singapore, Malaysia and a host of other countries with whom we have good diplomatic relations. If that be the case, then why do we have such an exchange with China? What are the scenarios where we think we would be working alongside Chinese troops? To reduce tension in South China Sea or Sea of Japan? Quite obviously, I really do not think that a such a scenario would present itself anytime soon in future. Then why do we need to have these programs?

Posted on August 29th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: China, Congress, govt, Manmohan, network, POK, retort, visa. Comments: 5

So it was independence day, once again. Like all independence days I tuned in to hear what our PM had to say today. But I need not have because his speech was so boring, repetitive and ridiculous that I nearly fell asleep. And it was only eight in the morning. In fact this speech was quite appropriate for the last year, the year before that, the year before before that year and quite likely for the next year, the next to next year and may be even for next to next to next year.

Posted on August 16th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: 2G, BJP, Congress, day, Gandhi, independence, inflation, Manmohan, Maoist. Comments: 7

All of a sudden in the last couple of weeks the entire policy or attitude, if you please, of every Tom, Dick and Harry including the govt of India on Kashmir and Kashmiris has undergone a drastic change. Now everyone is talking about the feelings of Kashmiris which has led them to resort to violence in the valley. Even media personalities like Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai and Meghnad Desai (sitting in London) are constantly espousing their cause through regular tweets and columns in various newspapers. In fact Lord Desai even said that all stake holders must dilute their positions in order to reach an amicable solution.

Posted on August 13th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: Abdullah, autonomy, Congress, Hurriyat, Kashmir, Omar, Pakistan, Terror. Comments: 5

Out of hundreds of allegations of fake encounter deaths why is the focus of our entire nation on Sohrabuddin and Amit Shah? Is it because a fake encounter of a Muslim is a different story than that of a Hindu? And that too because it happened in Narendra Modi’s Gujarat? Why is the CBI investigating only this case and not so many others where the guilty are quite likely from the Congress party? What about numerous allegations of fake encounters in Andhra Pradesh? What about the prosecution of Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar in Sikh riots case? What about Ottavio Quattrochi?

Posted on July 25th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: Amit Shah, BJP, Congress, court, encounter, fake, opposition, Sohrabuddin. Comments: 3

Rajdeep Sardesai says, “I thought SM Krishna acted with great dignity. He may not be the ideal foreign minister, but atleast he’s a gentleman”. Sardesai is not alone. All our media personalities including Barkha Dutt and Arnab Goswami are kind of hailing SM Krishna as if he was a great statesman who was in complete control of things in Islamabad and that his not doing some tough talking was an achievement in itself. In my view they’re all mistaken, SM Krishna included. In my view by not retorting SM Krishna and in the bargain Dr Manmohan Singh has made us a laughing stock of the world, particularly in the Muslim world. I too was so very wrong when I wrote this post Indo-Pak talks: A goalless draw wherein I said that results were known to us before the talks started and that this would end in a draw. Sadly, it has not ended in a draw. Its 1-0 in favor of Pakistan. Yes, we lost, once again.

Posted on July 18th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: BJP, Congress, Indo, Left, Pak, Qureshi, talks, Terror. Comments: 2

Look at it any which way you want, it is only the man on the street who is hurt, on one hand by rising prices and on the other by political parties enforcing a bandh. And that’s the irony of it all. The call for bandh to highlight the problems of the common man itself poses many problems to the man on the street. BJP president Nitin Gadkari says, “What else can we do in a democracy?” Well, a very valid question for sure. But then why was the bandh not so effectively enforced in non UPA ruled states? Is inflation and fuel price hike not an issue in opposition ruled states? If not then why the double standards? Unless, the aim was to punish the voters of these states for having voted for UPA?

Posted on July 6th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: bandh, Bharat, BJP, Congress, Left, strike. Comments: 6

Who is a Lokpal? If thats tough here’s another one, who is a Lokayukta? Well, Lokpal is supposed to be an ombudsman at the center who can look into irregularities by govt officials/politicians and give redressal to grievances of citizens. Lokayukta is supposed to be one in the states with the same functions. Thats the theoretical answer. The practical answer is that there is no Lokpal at the center. There are Lokayukta in some states, seventeen to be precise, but they are mostly toothless, with hardly any powers. And here is a shocker.

Posted on June 29th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: BJP, Congress, court, grievances, Lokayukta, lokpal, politicians, redressal. Comments: 8

There is no difference in the way things were before 26/11 and now. Nothing has changed for Pak. America is still giving them money and arms as they were earlier. India is still making those same ridiculous noises that we were making before 26/11. And Pakistan too is giving the same replies to all these disconcerting noises. In manner of speaking, Pakistan has more spunks than us. They can tell Americans to hop. We can’t. We can do only one thing- BEG. And beggars can’t be choosers. So it is Pakistan which chooses what it has to do and America which chooses what kind of attention, if any, they must pay to our begging.

Posted on June 28th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: CNN IBN, Congress, Hafiz, Indo Pak, Rajdeep, Saeed, Sardesai, talks, Terror, tweet. Comments: 13

While there is no doubt that the subsidy which the govt will now save be to the tune of Rs 30,000 crores which can be used for other useful purposes but there is much more to it than just that. For starters, didn’t the govt make more than Rs 30,000 crores extra than it had anticipated in 3G spectrum sale just recently? If they did they surely had more than enough for their current planned expenditures for this fiscal. Then why the hurry to decontrol petrol prices? Secondly, when the inflation starts to zoom up again won’t it become incumbent upon the Reserve Bank of India to hike interest rates which they have been postponing for some time now? And that implies that all kinds of loans including home loans will be costlier, again having a direct bearing on you and me. Thirdly, to believe that the oil corporate lobby did not have anything to do with this decision is also rather pedestrian. There can be little doubt about that.

Posted on June 27th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: conflict of interest, Congress, hike, inflation, iran, oil, price, war. Comments: 10