VOTER TURNOUT- I WISH IT WAS LOWER.

Pune Mirror 20 Oct 2014

I believed for the longest time that slogans like ‘VOTE FOR CHANGE’, ‘GET INKED’ and ‘YOUR VOTE COUNTS’ are actually serving the purpose they were meant for after seeing the surge in the voter turnouts since last few years. But how much of help these appeals are and what they entail in a healthy democracy are some rudimentary factors which deserve threadbare analysis. I’ve come across a lot of articles lately by prominent writers pensively venting their frustration about the uninterest of the voters and their low turnout in the elections. Yes, over the years the figures have bettered thanks to the social rage or to be articulate a fad to get inked. But contrary to this popular belief, it doesn’t underpin the democracy in reality, dig in a bit deeper and you would be able to comprehend why these figures are damning. I was flummoxed not to find even a single article out of hundreds that I read since the General Elections which pointed towards the devil in the detail of these figures. So, while voting in the assembly elections in Maharashtra on 15^th Oct I tried to have a sketchy look at the size of the devil and I wasn't surprised to see that it was indeed a mammoth one. Before you think that I am desperately attempting to build up the climax, let me disabuse the fact that it is actually the context with stark reality. As a voter 'what do I know' and 'what should I know' are the factors which are as important as exercising my right to vote. I asked many of my friends and few strangers as well who were at the polling booth taking selfies to update their status on the social media about the assembly, municipal and general elections, the difference and their expectations from the new government. Barring a few, most gave replies that proved that Alia Bhatt isn't the only one in a class of her own, many highly educated people working with MNCs deserve to be her peers, the poor girl just paid the price of being a celebrity. I asked people if they are voting for the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha and enthusiastically almost all within the earshot said the latter. I had to control my grin because they deserved few follow up questions. I thought they would get embarrassed if I invoke the term Vidhan Sabha but I was wrong yet again. The question resulted in some stuck faces and few stuttered responses. I continued asking if they’re voting for a Mayor, a Chief Minister, a corporator, an MLA or an MP, and I got few hands up in all of them as I mouthed the options to the young and educated voters. When asked about their expectations from the new government then the response reminded me of Rahul Gandhi’s women empowerment speeches. One wouldn't purchase a car just for the attractive looks if he doesn't know the alpha and omega of it, isn't it amusing to know then that how on earth these proud voters decide their pick for politicians? Every politician and political party does chest thumping in the election season, the grandeur of their publicity steers the thought process of these ignorant riffraff (it’s sullying but haven’t we asked for it) which then transpires into votes. Isn't the ignorance of this level a disservice to the nation? Aren’t they belittling the verdict of the poor who are in the line of fire of every decision of the government unlike them? Irresponsible voting waters down the real mandate and will cost dearly to those who pin all their hopes on elections. Isn't it better that only those with proper knowledge and understanding of the candidates and system should vote? Stripping such citizens of their fundamental right isn’t my argument; I am only advocating basic responsibility as decision-makers. An HR's job is an extremely responsible profile; you can't pick and choose resources to run a government without the basic background checks. Not even knowing what expectations one should keep from these resources is a crime against the people at large. Don’t speak when you don't know because when you do then unfortunately your say counts.

IT'S FIGURE OF SPEECH…NOTHING SERIOUS…

Pune mirror, Mumbai Mirror, Ahmedabad Mirror, Bangalore Mirror on 09/04/2014

As most of who's who of politics are indulging in obnoxious, dirty and hate mongering speeches only to rubbish or justify it later. Why don’t they start their speeches with a rider that all that they're going to say needs the highest level of understanding equivalent to that of their respective party's spokespersons to decipher their exact intent to make sure that its not convoluted later. It’s a requisite to escape the wrath of EC and the media because when they don’t give such a disclaimer then a comment like 'Vote for Revenge" is seen as a pointer that BJP can't completely give away the politics of hatred and polarization. At a time when people have already decided to confer the PM's post to Modi then what on earth is making BJP feel so ill at ease and again carry the communal baggage that they're known for, which people have agreed to condone this time less because of his claims of development but more because of congress's wretched governance and AAP's antics. What followed next was a clarification by party's spokesperson, something that is practiced by all parties in which our cognitive abilities are questioned. We're told that we either misconstrued or didn't understand the right context and the subtext of what the minister was trying to say and at times we're told that our sense of humor is dry without giving us a chance to refute. Be it Congress’s minister's "Will chop Modi" or Sharad Pawar's "Vote Twice" and now Amit Shah's "Vote for revenge", all these statements could be understood in only one way but all those who take offence of it are forced to accept it as a mere figure of speech, ‘Nothing serious Mate.’

ACCOUNTABILITY- A PREROGATIVE OF THE ELECTED..

Hindustan times 19/03/2014

They are unelected and that’s why unaccountable is what Salman Khurshid said about the two most important constitutional pillars of our democracy, the Election commission and the Supreme Court on a foreign land. A comment like this which is aimed at undermining the democracy and constitutionally-set institutions isn’t only contemptuous but an act of treason as well. If accountability is the prerogative of the elected people then how accountable they've been over the years is a recorded history. An act of desperation, which shows that Congress has started looking for a peg to hang their ill governance and imminent loss in the upcoming election. Contempt of this level should be dealt seriously and as quickly as possible. He says that the apex court threatens politicians with contempt cases but with the kind of lineament these politicians have do we need to look askance at the EC’s or Supreme Court's conduct? Earlier it was CAG and now EC and SC which according to Congress is subverting the democracy perhaps because they can’t dance to their tunes. We have enough reasons to believe that Supreme Court is infallible, the faith in the judiciary still stands tall unlike that on the Parliament where parties cherry pick the candidates according to their criminal credentials leaving little or no room for people to elect a clean candidate. If this biggest democracy is alive and kicking then we thank these unelectable and unaccountable institutions because elected and accountable people like you are resolute in choking it to a certain death. 

THE OSSIFIED PRACTICE OF POLITICS.

The Pioneer 12/08/2013

With the general elections closing in, the political parties are working overtime in priming itself in casting the first stone even though none of them qualify. Since the offset of the UPA regime the BJP has been haranguing about the status that Gandhi family enjoys in the Government irrespective of the profusion of the corruption but after Modi’s elevation as Campaign Committee Chief now they’re also up to the most ossified practice of the politics where it is considered blasphemous to talk against the poster boy/girl of the party. Many senior party leaders have been issued a whip for speaking directly or indirectly against Narendra Modi, the latest causalities being Shatrughn Sinha and MP Chief Minister though the latter did not utter a word against Modi, he was still rebuked for running counter and wearing a skull cap on Eid-a practice that Modi doesn’t approve of or rather shies away from deliberately. If the sycophants of the congress have zero tolerance against Gandhi family so is it with the BJP where Modi is being treated more pious than the Pope of the party L K Advani. Come on BJP, we’ve enough of Gandhi family dictatorship since last 10 years and we don’t wish to see a role play with Modi replacing the Gandhis.

THE CHICKEN IN THE COURT OF HAWKS..

Mumbai mirror 20/04/2013, the pioneer 20/04/2013, Pune mirror 20/04/2013

An old hackneyed axiom says that 'the chicken is never declared innocent in the court of hawks', though it’s an African saying but it stands so true in India that we witness it quite often with the latest one from Mumbai. Wasn't it anybody's guess that the MLAs involved in the thrashing of the cop Sachin Suryavanshi will have the last laugh? CCTV footages were told to be visually muddy and the onlookers were reduced to an incompetent witnesses so what else we people are given to understand but that, when politicians are in the dock even smoking guns can be rubbished. Thanks to our intellectual faculties and acquired wisdom that we can easily second-guess the casualty when a politician is one of the belligerents. They play accused, investigator, advocate and the judge lock stock and barrel so was there any possibility of them not coming clean in the panel report? The suspension stays on for the cop and an enquiry is imminent for his fault of discharging his duties and grossing out the MLA by stopping his car followed by a clean chit to the MLAs with rank arrogance that roughed up a man in uniform and breached the decorum of the assembly.

‘MINOR’-A MISNOMER FOR A MONSTER

The pioneer 31/01/2013, ahmedabad mirror 31/01/2013

Contrary to the nation's expectations the sixth accused in the Delhi gang rape case will be treated as a juvenile and possibly will walk free after June. Adding insult to the injury, few legal luminaries and bleeding hearts have come out in support and acting as a bulwark for the accused arguing that laws can't be changed for retrospective cases and children should be treated like children irrespective of the heinousness and barbarity of their crimes. This verdict pushes the sense of closure for the citizens too far for now. Outmoded laws need to be revisited if government doesn't want society to turn to lynch mob. This beneath the contempt juvenile monster will walk free in a few months but for how long? The country's agony is too mammoth to simmer down and if he is set free because judiciary pulled its punches then people will take law in their hands. Correct the loopholes and punish the culprit or stay with the status quo and force the society to demonize, choice stays with the government.

BE BRAZEN- IT’S THE RIGHT OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION.

INDIAN EXPRESS (pg12, 19OCT2012), THE PIONEER(pg08, 23OCT2012), AHMEDABAD MIRROR(pg21, 18OCT2012), PUNE MIRROR(pg15, 18OCT2012).

Never before, we saw the Right of Freedom of Expression being exercised to its best with politicians like Beni Prasad Verma brazenly admitting that Rs 71 lakhs is too little an amount for a union minister to embezzle followed by Digvijay Singh laying out the political ethics of mutual back scratching by saying that congress had ample proof of misappropriation against son-in-law of Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee but they’d followed the unwritten law of not touching the family members of your opposition and brushed everything under the carpet. BJP's stand against Robert Vadra and Khurshid's wife isn't fitting in the jigsaw which drew this knee jerk reflex from Digvijay Singh reminding BJP of their own elephants in the same room. So far, such expressions used to be in the form of insinuations and innuendoes but now it is no holds barred war of words or say an open threat to close ranks else face the ramifications. Seeing all this, we’re getting a ray of hope for the Right of Freedom of Expression for the commoner in true senses in the near future.

WE ALSO UNDERSTAND LITERATURE Mr. KATJU.

AHMEDABAD MIRROR (pg18, 30JAN2012), PUNE MIRROR (pg20, 30JAN2012).

Mr. Katju’s views of Salman Rushdie and his readers seemed a bit lopsided as he was quick to notice that Indians have ‘colonial inferiority complex’ and any writer living abroad is regarded as great by us but he failed to notice that the west also suffers from the ‘superiority complex’. There is no accounting for taste and we aren’t disrespecting his views of Rushdie’s works but we wish he’d stopped at that and didn’t question readers understanding of English and literature. American’s and English’s dislike for Asians is not hidden and if they recognize the work by an Asian and felicitate him with the Booker prize then it’s enough food for thought for Mr. Katju but still if it doesn’t win him over and he continues to think that Midnight’s children isn’t a great work of literature then he should be informed that not once but twice this book of Rushdie’s has won ‘Best of Bookers’ prize. No doubt that Mr. Katju is a man of great stature but while terming Rushdie’s work as poor and substandard it seemed if he was trying to be economical with the truth or maybe he found it a psychological moment to garner some lime light.

LOOKING FOR REDEMPTION-JOIN BJP.

AHMEDABAD MIRROR(pg22, 12JAN2012), MUMBAI MIRROR(pg22, 07JAN2012).

We knew that the mud flinging is in the offing when BSP’s tainted and ousted minister B S Kushwaha got a princely welcome in the BJP but it would start from its own sections was quite a surprise. The rift within the party is compounding and the discomfort among its own leaders has come to the fore with few of its own MPs opening the fire against the party’s decision. Now when BJP is at the receiving end with this blunder, their rule books and yard sticks have changed and Mr. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi is now singing a different tune on the issue of corruption and the corrupts as if the party has become a place to atone. We aren’t kicking about BJP’s reading too much into the CBI’s raids and calling it a maneuver by the Congress because we know that they’re right but they shouldn’t forget that the one who pays the piper calls the tune and had they been in power they would’ve done the same. With the elections in UP around the corner the stakes are too high for the BJP but mounting the blame on Congress for one’s own goof up isn’t going to serve their purpose, mistakes need to be rectified before the damage goes beyond repair.

NORTH EAST- THE UNWANTED.

PUNE MIRROR (pg21, 29JAN2011).

The report by New Delhi based North East Support Centre which precursors the impending exodus of the people from the north east towards the other parts of the country in the next few years should be a wakeup call for the central government to stop the step child treatment for this very own part of our country. The writing is on the wall that a lot of political parties will milk this situation for their political gains by putting them in the category of ‘the unwanted’ like the people from UP and Bihar. The politicians are deliberately obtuse to understand that the dice is loaded against these hapless people and they’re not invaders but a victim of the deficiency of development in their respective states and as a citizen of this country they’ve the constitutional right to move out to earn a living. The development doesn’t mean constructing highways which takes the youth out of their states but to bring in education and employment in the state itself. Few developed cities don’t make us a developed country, the growth needs to be inclusive so the central and the state governments should usher in fresh ideas and chalk out plans to bring employment opportunities in these deplorable and paralyzed states.

WHY RED IN TOOTH AND CLAW?

PUNE MIRROR (pg18, 4DEC2011).

The dictatorship in sports is back with Hockey India and Indian Hockey Federation both trailing the path that BCCI once treaded. Railroading the Hockey players into their decisions and threatening to sanction a ban on the ‘rebels’ (as they say it in sports parlance) who will play in WSH evokes the days of rivalry between the BCCI and the ICL. Is there even a single bona fide reason for them to take away the fundamental rights of these citizens to earn a good living? You neither pay them handsomely nor allow them to get paid by someone else. They aren’t breaking away from their duties, for them country and pride is everything for which they're ready to forgo the money and the fame but isn't this a moral responsibility of the governing bodies to look after their national players instead of being red in tooth and claw and trying to extract their pound of flesh. They're the assets to the country so why aren't they treated like one? In the times when people are trying to pump life in the future of this game there are people putting nails in its coffin.

MODI’S BLOOD SOAKED POLITICAL CLOAK.

PUNE MIRROR (pg15, 24NOV2011).

The SIT’s report that the encounter of Ishrat Jahan was done in cold blood by Gujarat Police to portray Narendra Modi as a fighter against terrorism shows the level of hell Modi can bring down on minorities to vindicate his belief and conviction. All these fake encounters add to the blood soaked political cloak that Modi wears. Can he wash his hands off all these killings in the name of development? Who to blame if a kin of one of these casualties turns terrorist out of vengeance? The system which worked hand-in-glove with Modi and followed his bestial instructions or the people of Gujarat who even after 60 years of independence fail to stomach that we’re a democracy and repeatedly elect a candidate whose hatred for minorities is well known? It isn’t far when the world will fault us for being ambidextrous because we take pride in telling the world that India is a mosaic of religions and cultures but in the backdrop of it disregard our constitution.

POOR-THE EXTINCT BREED.

PUNE MIRROR (pg15, 25SEP2011).

The planning commission’s beyond the pale concept of poor and poverty has only made us rue that how unfortunate we are that we’ve a plurality of highly qualified economists in the cabinet. The report which factually flies in the face of common sense is certain to revolutionize the world as it gives a shorter route to curb poverty, just change the definition and you’ll no longer be deemed poor. Do these high profile millionaire members of planning commission have the courage to tell a labourer or a coolie or a rickshaw puller on his face that he is not poor but rich because he makes almost Rs 100 a day much more than the paltry sum of Rs 32 and that’s why he is not entitled to any subsidy? Even beggars make more than Rs 32 a day, so in that case the poor are extinct in our country, right?

MANI SHANKAR AIYER-A SNOB OR A LOOSE CANNON?

SUNDAY TIMES OF INDIA(pg19, 18SEP2011), PUNE MIRROR (pg17, 15SEP2011).

Mani Shankar Aiyer’s unwarranted and unsolicited comments are certain to create ripples of discomfort among the lots. The latest salvo being fired by him against sports minister Ajay Maken was supposed to be personal attack but has veered and yet again stirred a hornet’s nest as it not only questioned the credibility of Hansraj College and the quality of its students but has also put Stephens College’s students in poor light. He finds ‘dichotomous’ too big a word to be used by a student of Hansraj college. An uncalled for comment like this would blemish the reputation of his own alma mater as people tend to generalize opinions and because of one anomaly alumnus like him all Stephenians would be tagged as ‘snobs’.

A GLARING DUPLICITY.

PUNE MIRROR (pg20, 9JULY2011).

Danish court's ruling out Kim Davy's extradition plea and the aftermath comments from the higher echelons of our country like P Chidambaram were the foregone conclusions. The Govt with no concrete representation and the CBI producing an expired warrant in the court of law was a glaring duplicity, so do they've even the face to beef about the outcome? His extradition would've opened a can of worms because the whole set of events, right from Kim's flying a cargo airplane into the Indian territory en route from Pakistan without being caught on the radar, to its purported refueling at Varanasi, to the dropping of arms in Purulia, to his escape from India breaching a very tight security bellies a great secret which we had believed would be unearthed soon but now we've another think coming.

DISGRACE FOR THE TRICOLOUR.

PUNE MIRROR (pg15, 1JULY2011).

A garbage truck which carries filth everyday for the last ride of our martyrs is not only an insult to their bodies, their families but also the tricolor wrapping them. Ask those who lost their dear ones what it takes to deserve the tricolor on one's dead body, and they'd get a lump in their throat. We don't see men in uniform protesting for hike in salary or against hike in commodity prices though they're also the one to bite the bullet exemplifies that it's the pride in the uniform and the country which keeps them going without complaining. They're a breed apart, they're the ones who forsake the life of comfort so that we can lead one, spend their lives in inhospitable and hostile conditions so that we can enjoy the bounties of the nature, put their lives on the line for us and don't die until they're dead to protect us. We owe them a lot. The culpable authorities and the people in the know should hang their heads in shame for this aberration. The nation wouldn't forgive the culprits who're also a breed apart for disgracing the people in uniform who laid down their lives fighting the enemies within.

ACME OF GANDHISM.

PUNE MIRROR (pg26, 9APRIL2011).

This is the acme of Gandhism, the unprecedented solidarity being shown by the country for Anna's fight against the canker of corruption manifests the ire and frustration in the common man. The enthusiasm and the participation by youth who've always been accused of apathy have yet again broken a precedent thanks to the epidemic of corruption in the recent times. a few days have already passed and may be this one man juggernaut's roar has fallen on deaf ears but it is palpable that the political fraternity is shaken and with the support pouring in every minute by people from all walks of life from all over the world it seems to end on a positive note. Though some sections of the political class have termed this a roorback but we always knew the fabric of politicians or say reprobates and such kind of statements weren't iffy.

WHAT’S THE MOOT POINT?

PUNE MIRROR (pg18, 23DEC2010).

Rahul Gandhi is in midst of a row for his cable to a US official released by Wikileaks authenticity of which is still to be proved but opposition has already set their guns on him. I don’t understand the fuss generated every time a politician associates Hinduism with terror. I also come from same school of thought that terrorism has no religion but we should understand that the moot point is not the association of religion with terrorism but the formation of radical groups among religions which were immune to terrorism before. It’s high time that we’d understand that instead of fighting over the issue that whether ‘saffron terrorism’ is a misnomer or not we should convince the right wing politicians and groups that the people who are killed in terrorist attacks are not Hindus or Muslims but Indians.