Ignoarrogant Yuvraj!

The heir apparent of Congress( did i say opposite of progress?) is playing his old card of non-congress being the sole reason of backwardness of UP. It seems baba is as ill read and as misinformed as his grandma unlike great grandfather. Well that is altogether a different story.

What needs to be reminded him is that UP was, except, for last two decades, always a fortress of Congress since early independence era. UP was always under the sway of INC. Nehru, Indira, Chandrashekar, V.P.Singh, Shastri , Charan Singh (the foot lion :)), Vajpayee all these Prime ministers were elected from UP. Of these maximum times it was Con-gress which was the ruling party with PM from UP. In 40 years Congress did absolute nothing in UP if compared to 20 year rule of non-congress parties. Much needs to be appreciated of Behenjee's sarkar, although she courted controversy one after another.

It should be wonder of wonders for all economists that a land so fertile on the banks of Ganges, with plain topographical features, with no climatic extremes as in Rajasthan, which played and still plays a phenomenal role in history and its making, has ended up as major 'labor' exporter! When goons of MNS kick these poor laborers from UP, it should shame any representative of UP, not to talk about PM.

Another rant we hear from the Prince of Congress as well as from the Queen mother is "We had sent so much money from Delhi, but all has been siphoned away from the non-congress sarkar ruling UP".He forgets that money sent to UP is not from his or his family members bank account. It is our tax payers hard earned money not their family jaagir. So next time please spare us from the money-from-Delhi rhetoric. We are sick of it Mr.Gandhi!

I know Mr.Gandhi is desperate to make some mark on Indian politics and UP elections should be last attempt with Indian Politics (because after its debacle, even the Congress party workers wont accept him as their leader:)). But the media-ramp walk into Dalit family household and breaking a bread or two with them, won't cut much ice with electorate. Neither would shouting like a child "Kalavati..Kalavati!!!" in Indian parliament help.

Grow up Mr.Gandhi and stop being Amul-Baby as Mr.Achuthanandan remarked in last Kerala State election

Contempt of court and freedom of speech

Recently Kerala high court sentenced the CPI(M) party activist M.V.Jayarajan for calling the judges as “shumbhan” which means fool, idiot in Malayalam. His diatribe was in response to the HC ruling against roadside assembly of party activists for political speeches and public address. Interestingly HC did not even suspend the ruling to give him time to appeal to SC, so that sentence was immediately implemented and Jayarajan had to spend his time in jail, till the time he could file an appeal against the ruling in Supreme Court.

Was court justified in this? Certainly if one goes by law book, a resounding yes! But if we look more closely there are some difficult political philosophical questions involved. Do we actually need to empower judiciary and parliament with such contempt proceeding powers? And won’t such powers discourage healthy criticism?

Moreover should judges not be judged? Are they bathed by milk, to quote Hindi proverb? If they are not spotless, then should they be empowered with contempt proceeding powers to silence criticism? One should not forget the rampant corruption even in the judiciary. Justice Dinakaran, Soumitra sen, Y.K.Sabarwaal, and now K.G.Balakrishnan facing the charges for favouring his son-in-law out of turn! The case against Soumitra Sen as recorded by proceedings in Rajya Sabha meant that he was corrupt since the start of his career in judiciary. How did he survive with so much corruption to this extent?

Returning back to the Jayarajan episode, the learned judges interestingly remarked Jayrajan as a “worm”. Did not the judges stoop down to the levels for school-boyish fist-fight and name calling? Agreed Jayajan’s comment would be lacking intellectual force, if any, still should he be silenced? Did his comments actually change public opinion against courts?

To sum up one should be reminded of J.S.Mill’s famous quote “If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.”

Crime and Punishment

This vacation (if it can be called so!) I read Fyodor Dostoevsky’s monumental novel Crime & Punishment (C&P). Typical as of a Russian novel, it was also too deep into philosophy and Russian society in general. The book revolves around its protagonist Raskolnikov, who commits a perfect crime, leaving no traces of evidences. The book very well captures a criminal’s mindset and in fact gives a firsthand report of the criminal’s state of mind.

Dostoevsky throws some very deep questions onto the reader. What is crime? Should laws be flexible to certain category of individuals? And again the age old debate of good versus bad.

The protagonist in the novel gives a very interesting and radical view of crime. He says that origin of all crimes have their roots in the injustice and inequality present in the society. And criminals are as such people who some way or the other try to rebel against this order. Mind well that Dostoevsky wrote this much before Russia was caught with Marxian fever. So as to say crime a.k.a ‘rebellion’ will be present in the society till the time society metamorphoses into a “just” society. (Can we think about Indian Maoist insurgency from this perspective?)

Furthermore, he goes onto argue that, there are two kind of people in this world one ‘ordinary’ and another ‘extraordinary’ much like the elitist theory propounded by Pareto, Mosca and Michels. He says that ordinary people are bound to follow all the laws of the society. They cannot or do not have the bravado to go against the society. They are ‘normal’ people like you and me. Ones whose life gets consumed in fulfilling Roti-kapada-makaan requirements of life. He theorizes that such people are only necessary for fulfilling the needs of the society and preserving the human species through reproduction.

Whereas the other class of ‘extraordinary’ men are not obliged to be bound by worldly laws. They surface on earth to change the existing system, hence are permitted to break the existing laws and if need be remove the obstacles in achieving their goal, which may also mean killing the people who oppose them. He cites examples of Sohon, Lycurgus, Napoleon, and Prophets and Messiahs of the world. He believes that it is for the good of the society; that they be allowed to do their work and when others should cooperate.

Obsessed with his ideas and the aspiration to be new age Napoleon he kills a moneylender woman whom he considers worthless burden on earth and to use her ill-gotten money for the welfare of people at large. The novel then takes the reader to the state of mind of the killer, who goes into a deep sense of guilt and self-inflicted torment. He kind of leads an anarchist life, and also abandons his only sister and mother who had great expectations from him.

Later on his female friend helps him and convinces him to confess his crime and he does so. But he atones not for the sin of killing that woman, but for the sin of not taking up the moral responsibility like Napoleon and other greats and succumbing to the guilt feeling.

The book is abundant with pessimistic air of poverty of Russian society. It shows how out of poverty women are forced to sell their chastity, it depicts the appalling conditions of widows and orphans, of workers and their dark, stench ridden habitats. This pessimism is contrasted along with lofty enlightenment ideas of Europe, which of course is relished by the bourgeoisie ‘intellectuals ‘of the Russian society, who in the end turn out to be effeminate café going intellectuals, high on words and low on action.

The sad Red story!

So the verdict is out loud and clear. The mantra of “Ma Mati and Manush” had its final sway in the Red bastion of Bengal. The LaalBhais (as once Bala Saheb Thackerayjee derisively addressed them) have been routed out lock, stock and barrel, with many Left stalwarts even losing their deposits. Mamata Banerjee described the victory as, “ a second freedom” for Bengal!
Such is the world of politics that once invincible, arrogant and stubborn Left is left with very few takers, after the drubbing they got in Bengal and Kerala(although performed better in Kerala). From being a major opposition party in the 50’s they have almost been reduced to a state or two. Some have put it with wit “Left has nothing left in them now”. So can we put the RIP tomb stone on the Red grave? Is this the end of the once powerful Indian Left movement? Is this the “end of history” moment for India?

Left movement started with, in the early 30’s with heavy intellectual like M.N.Roy as its janak. Dilly dallying many times whether to join the then Indian National Movement under congress leadership, the Left always were an intriguing and strange party since the beginning. As Shree Manmohan Singhji many times said “Our Friends from Left have always been on the wrong side of History”. 1942 they decided not participate in the Quit India Movement, since Russia got involved in the war! No sooner did India achieve freedom, than the Left declared that Indian war of independence is not over, now the Indian masses need to be relieved from the Indian yoke too! And with this idea in, they clandestinely began fighting against the legitimate Indian government. May be this was the second sin of the Indian Communists.

There on, from the covert support for the Naxalbari movement, to the overt support to China during the China war, to the stubborn opposition to computers -all this certainly points to the fact what Mr.PM was stressing on. Meanwhile in late 70’s the young lawyer Mr.Jyoti Basu seized the opportunity with promise for land reforms movement and came to power -a successful political manoeuvring which Mamtajee bettered later in the Singur-Nandigram days to come.

Till date Kerala and West Bengal (thanks to the then Basu Government) remain the only states which did the land reforms exceptionally well. Unlike in Mahrashtra and other states, in these two states it would be difficult to find 400 acres of land under one person or families control! Yes that was a big turning point in the history of Bengal, which the Left successfully milked till now. But in the present election this cash-cow (or vote-cow?) has gone dry!

All said and done, it won’t augur well for the country if the Left is left to die a silent death. All this while, the only meaningful debate and opposition has come from the Left alone on major policies of the Govt may it be nuclear deal or privatization policies, with little or no voice coming in from the other major opposition parties! It is also a fact that our comrades have shown much higher integrity and simplicity in public life (if we leave one or two exceptions like Pinnarai Vijayan) compared to others in the echelons of power.

What would be needed from the Left as of now would be a total Indianization of the Left movement. Dump away the old clothes of Stalin, Lenin and Mao. They stink in this age. Change the ideology to suit the Indian masses. And be practical – opposing computers, investments, and branding the non-communists as CIA agents won’t take you far. Think in the interest of the country and not the interest of the DIY-communist-kit -- the "Red Book". Reform and revitalize the left movement for the betterment of this country!

The Jan LokPal – a panacea for all ills?

Take a look at some important diary of events till now
• A series of government scams all running into multi billion dollars, and some of them might even be the GDP of small countries like Bhutan!
• Months long public protests by citizens of some WANA (West Asia North Africa) region countries against despotic regimes there.
• A scintillating world cup victory for India after a generational gap of 28 years, which left the urban middle class public mood very ecstatic and, patriotic too, with shouts of Vande mataram and Bharat mata ki jai!

And enter Shri Anna Hazare with his coterie of activists, with their demand for Jan Lokpal! A brilliant timing! What more can the media and urban middle class ask for? After four days of fast, the weak central government blinked to the pressure tactics applied by the so called “non governmental organization”. Within no time the gang of activists became the darling of the media.

Shri Anna Hazare jee exhorted people “Jail Bharo!” as if we were living under British Raj! And youth also got a feeling of having-done-their-bit for the country by tweeting, sending sms, taking online polls. When was the last time when the youth of the present generation came in numbers for protest? Yes it was by again some “non governmental organization” named Youth for equality who protested on streets against the OBC reservation introduced in the central educational institutes. Did they come on streets when Dalits were deprived off their self-respect? Did they come forward for the womans reservation which is also lying like the lokpal bill in sarkari files? They only come forward when it affects them! They would ring up the fire brigade only when their house is burning. And this act they call as patriotism!

It is no one's case that there should not be strong anti -corruption laws in the country. But the ways and means taken up by the activists were really very coercive and undemocratic in nature. Can the various governmental problems be solved in such ways? Would the government blink tomorrow, when some XYZ NGO comes up and fasts until death unless the Kashmir issue is sorted out in 72 hours? Can such ultimatums be given to the democratically elected governments?

And needless to say all those youth who were gungho, to come on to the media and pledge their support, might not even have taken a look at the proposals made by “jan” Lokpal Bill. The bill straight away jettisons the tried and tested method of “checks and balances” incorporated in the various arms of the democratic set up, by the Indian constitution. It tries to create a draconian authority who can summon any one; suo mottu initiate actions investigate and even play the role of courts! A kind of super cop, super judiciary and a parallel government of sorts!

Moreover the laws of any democratic country are usually made by the legislators who are the “true” representatives of people, how-much-ever corrupt they be! It is a fact. This should be the first time in India where a non-elected body will be part of drafting a law, which is a DANGEROUS precedent. How do one filter out a civil society organization? Whom do they represent? Can they speak for whole of India?

Then the question comes what should be done for stopping the rampant corruption? Should we just sit and watch? Yes there cannot be an instant-ready-to-work solution like so many other lacunae present in democratic set up. A beginning to all this should be to get down to the roots.

Roots being the electoral reforms like
• make the intra party elections mandatory so that dynasty politics is done away with
• Stop the entry of goons in the main stream politics
• Curb the flow of ill-gotten money during elections; Make it mandatory to publish the income expenditure records for all the people who contest elections.

All this needs to be done so that entering main stream politics does not remain a privilege of few wealthy people with good “connections”. And when such a thing happens then no one needs to fast till death to bring about legislations needed.

Of course all these are from a layman’s perspective. There would be technical difficulties in this too.

Also one should not forget that it was Gandhiji who said, after attaining independence, fasts should not be used against the government, as there would be ample democratic means and ways to seek redressal to public grievances. Same were the views of Dr.BabaSaheb Ambedkar the architect of Indian constitution.

Birthday suits and world cup

Cup mania! Nudity and the world cup: All the nudity that we have seen in world cups is of Dada appearing top less ( should we term it as nudity?). Now in news was a girl who was ready to strip if India lifts the world cup. And guess what? To add spice to the already “hot” cup some local parties have protested, saying govt should take action against her! And the icing on the cake comes from PETA, which says “Strip for animals, not for cricketers!”. Wonder called India! Someone wants to shed her clothes and we have political parties crying that government should leave all its work and go after that silly girl. I was wondering, what if government obliges? Well if the government obliges, then in typical sarkari style it will have to first set up a committee something like Naagdu committee ( pun intended to rhyme with Shunglu committee), which will have nominated members like Rakhi Sawant, Mallika Sherawat, Madhu Sapre heading it! N.B: In such news TOI does a commendable job. Those days wont be far away when TOI will be aquired by Gossip and Glamour magazines of west, Or is it already done clandestinely?)

Living with Liza

One evening after a hard day in office, as I slouched on my couch, I heard some hissing, wrangling sound among the pile of books on the slab. I rushed there in an instant. And I saw her.
She was trying to hide from me. Trying to run away from me. Hesitating to look into my eyes. A kind of shyness I guess. And once in a while giving me coquettish glances. I tried to shoo her away. In the process she made a blitzkrieg movement and scared the shit out of me! In one big somersault, I reached my bedroom, and closed the door firmly with a bang , like you see in Hindi movies where the female protagonist bangs the door, to avoid the goon attempting to outrage her modesty. Then I switched off the light and pretended like an ostrich that there is nothing to worry about.
But there was more in store. Now her sight became quite familiar to me. Hiding at impossible places, like the small one inch space between the cupboard and the wall, the gaps between the tubelight holder and the wall, the tiny creeks and crevices in the walls and doors, and at times only her tail being visible, dangling as if she be dancing to some tune'sheela sheela kee jawaani'. In the process I realized that the walls and doors have more crevices than the plane surface!
May be it was for her that Ghalib wrote
Woh aayay hamaray ghar par khuda kee kudrat hain
Kabhi ham unko aur kabhi deewar ko dayktay hain
Initial few days I resisted and despised her presence. Armed with a broom, I tried to physically threaten her. The broom in hand was no match for the Jackie Chan like sharp movements of her. I searched through Google, for all the ways and means to drive her and her tribe away. I tried making use of empty egg shells. I tried different herbs and medicines, but in vain. Dawaa bhi kaam na aayay dua bhi na lagay!Then I took recourse to solution-for-all-problems- channel Asian sky shop/ TeleBrand show. There were myriads of goods for sale, from Tummy reducer to Wealth creating Rudraksha and Dhanalaxmi yantras, but there was nothing for Liza and her tribe.
Finally, left with Hobson’s choice I signed a bilateral peace treaty with her. As per the treaty she was not to cross her territory (maryaada?) and me not to disturb her. And we are still living peacefully.
Please follow the link(link to be updated later) to catch a glimpse of her, in her meditative aasan, which she can incredibly hold for hours together.
P.S Don’t ask me why Liza? How do I know if she is a female?
I am not a zoologist and neither did I lift her yuck tail!!!!