Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Learnings from Recent State Elections in India

December 18, 2017 marked another milestone in Indian political scenario with Himachal and Gujarat wins recorded by the Right wing party - Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP).  It was very interesting scene to the final results that all the major politicians as well as media houses had their priorities set for Gujarat; why not it is the home state for the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP Party president. For them a lot was at stake, but why the Indian National Congress (INC or Congress) was training its guns for the Gujarat Elections rather than additionally focusing on Himachal? Straight forward reason, if they would have won Gujarat elections, that would have given them a much needed boost and momentum to look forward for the general elections in 2019.  

By far we saw a lot of dramatics from both the BJP and the INC where they went overboard to woo the voters and still both of them failed miserably.  BJP faced much worse a failure than what INC failed as if we look back at the results, INC gained additional seat from what they had in 2012 and also gained ample vote share crossing 40% mark.  But INC did fail to make a mark with the voters even though they tried to ride the "Hindutva" sentiments.

There is a lot of learning from the so called success as well as failure of both the parties in Gujarat and they can be listed as - 
  1. Complacency never helps garner support as if you grow complacent, you tend to become arrogant and this is what BJP leaders need to learn from the Gujarat Elections
  2. Never divert your attention from where you have been strong, ensure that sufficient balance is maintained between you strong and weak foot.  INC leaders need to learn this from their losses in Himachal and Gujarat.  They should not have solely focused on Gujarat and neglect Himachal.
  3. Caste based division may help you garner additional votes, but they wouldn't help you actually win. INC needs to learn this as the face of Young Indians is not caste, they  prefer development and that should be the main focus to ensure that a right message goes to the voters
  4. Portraying yourself that you are not will only create confusion and there are way many more than you can actually think to expose your truth. INC must learn this from Gujarat results.  Rahul Gandhi can't portray as a Hindu when he was said to be Baptized in Italy and had a catholic upbringing. Jut putting on Janeu (Sacred Thread) doesn't mark you as Hindu or Brahmin, you need to showcase that in your behavior and the life that you lead
  5. Transparency is very important and no amount of sops would help you garner the support that you need if you don't maintain transparency. The voters now are way more informed than in past with electronic media reaching in the reach of their palm.  It is important that any policy and procedure should be well drafted and communicated to ensure that masses understand it the way it should be and don't get influenced by any skewed version
  6. When you walk out there, walk out with polite attitude and not sugar coated or arrogant.  People have shed that process off where they used to look at party symbol or a single candidate. Now they vote on merit
  7. For local elections, please ensure that local issues are discussed rather than trying to cross pollinate with other states or the national level. demographic and other differences have a big impact on perception of schemes of development across the nation v/s a specific state
The learning is equal for both INC and BJP. 

I suppose that the BJP brass would have got that subtle zig "Jor ka jhatka dhire se lage", that was much needed to hit their arrogance and complacency that they developed after winning at the center and then in Uttar Pradesh.  They should have played better and they should from here play better to improve their vote share.

On the contrary, INC needs to focus on what actually worked in their favor in Gujarat in particular, certainly not the Hindutva agenda nor the Hardik Patel effect.  They should also look at the aspect where they lost in Himachal and the main reason they could win a few seats there.  

Both the parties need to focus on their wins and losses o be able to prepare for the general elections in 2019. They both would be getting a few chances midway to test their strategies and ensure that they carry their learning forward to turn the tables during 2019 general elections.

One thing for sure, INC would give a tough fight to BJP, if BJP wouldn't take learnings from their loss in Gujarat Election and it may actually result in a hung parliament with coalition government at the center!!

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

India @ 70 - Part 2

Since this part is more about the political scenario in India, I will post most parts in Hindi. To start with, I will state a story that I received in a chat group and will follow with some pointers from there-on.

एक बार एक हंस और हंसिनी हरिद्वार के सुरम्य वातावरण से भटकते हुए, उजड़े वीरान और रेगिस्तान के इलाके में आ गये; हंसिनी ने हंस को कहा कि ये किस उजड़े इलाके में आ गये हैं ?? यहाँ न तो जल है, न जंगल और न ही ठंडी हवाएं हैं यहाँ तो हमारा जीना मुश्किल हो जायेगा ! भटकते भटकते शाम हो गयी तो हंस ने हंसिनी से कहा कि किसी तरह आज की रात बीता लो, सुबह हम लोग हरिद्वार लौट चलेंगे ! रात हुई तो जिस पेड़ के नीचे हंस और हंसिनी रुके थे, उस पर एक उल्लू बैठा था। वह जोर से चिल्लाने लगा।

हंसिनी ने हंस से कहा- "अरे यहाँ तो रात में सो भी नहीं सकते!! ये उल्लू चिल्ला रहा है।

हंस ने फिर हंसिनी को समझाया कि किसी तरह रात काट लो, मुझे अब समझ में आ गया है कि ये इलाका वीरान क्यूँ है ?? ऐसे उल्लू जिस इलाके में रहेंगे वो तो वीरान और उजड़ा रहेगा ही।

पेड़ पर बैठा उल्लू दोनों की बातें सुन रहा था।

सुबह हुई, उल्लू नीचे आया और उसने कहा कि हंस भाई, मेरी वजह से आपको रात में तकलीफ हुई, मुझे माफ़ करदो।

हंस ने कहा- कोई बात नही भैया, आपका धन्यवाद!

यह कहकर जैसे ही हंस अपनी हंसिनी को लेकर आगे बढ़ा पीछे से उल्लू चिल्लाया, अरे हंस मेरी पत्नी को लेकर कहाँ जा रहे हो।

हंस चौंका- उसने कहा, आपकी पत्नी ?? अरे भाई, यह हंसिनी है, मेरी पत्नी है,मेरे साथ आई थी, मेरे साथ जा रही है!

उल्लू ने कहा- खामोश रहो, ये मेरी पत्नी है।

दोनों के बीच विवाद बढ़ गया। पूरे इलाके के लोग एकत्र हो गये। कई गावों की जनता बैठी। पंचायत बुलाई गयी। पंचलोग भी आ गये! बोले- भाई किस बात का विवाद है ??

लोगों ने बताया कि उल्लू कह रहा है कि हंसिनी उसकी पत्नी है और हंस कह रहा है कि हंसिनी उसकी पत्नी है!

लम्बी बैठक और पंचायत के बाद पंच लोग किनारे हो गये और कहा कि भाई बात तो यह सही है कि हंसिनी हंस की ही पत्नी है, लेकिन ये हंस और हंसिनी तो अभी थोड़ी देर में इस गाँव से चले जायेंगे। हमारे बीच में तो उल्लू को ही रहना है। इसलिए फैसला उल्लू के ही हक़ में ही सुनाना चाहिए!

फिर पंचों ने अपना फैसला सुनाया और कहा कि सारे तथ्यों और सबूतों की जांच करने के बाद यह पंचायत इस नतीजे पर पहुंची है कि हंसिनी उल्लू की ही पत्नी है और हंस को तत्काल गाँव छोड़ने का हुक्म दिया जाता है!

यह सुनते ही हंस हैरान हो गया और रोने, चीखने और चिल्लाने लगा कि पंचायत ने गलत फैसला सुनाया। उल्लू ने मेरी पत्नी ले ली!

रोते- चीखते जब वह आगे बढ़ने लगा तो उल्लू ने आवाज लगाई - ऐ मित्र हंस, रुको!

हंस ने रोते हुए कहा कि भैया, अब क्या करोगे ?? पत्नी तो तुमने ले ही ली, अब जान भी लोगे ?

उल्लू ने कहा - नहीं मित्र, ये हंसिनी आपकी पत्नी थी, है और रहेगी!

लेकिन कल रात जब मैं चिल्ला रहा था तो आपने अपनी पत्नी से कहा था कि यह इलाका उजड़ा और वीरान इसलिए है क्योंकि यहाँ उल्लू रहता है! मित्र, ये इलाका उजड़ा और वीरान इसलिए नहीं है कि यहाँ उल्लू रहता है।

यह इलाका उजड़ा और वीरान इसलिए है क्योंकि यहाँ पर ऐसे पंच रहते हैं जो उल्लुओं के हक़ में फैसला सुनाते हैं!
----

अब यदि यह कहानी पढ़कर आप सोच रहे हैं कि हमारे राष्ट्र की भी यही हालत है, तो आप सही हैं। विगत ७० वर्षों में हमारे राष्ट्र में हमने भी यही सब किया है।  जात पात के आधार पर, धर्मांधता के आधार पर एवं भाषा के आधार पर हमें बाँटने वाले तथाकथित बुदधिजिवीयोन को हमने अपना नेता चुना एवं राष्ट्र की सत्ता उनके हाथ में सोंप दी। विगत ७० वर्षों में हमने एक बार भी नहीं सोचा की इस राष्ट्र में सामाजिक अराजकता, हिंसा, अपराध, भ्रष्टाचार आदि को बढ़ावा यही तथाकथित बुद्धिजीवी देते आए हैं।  आप और मैं यह सोच कर की हमारे कुछ करने से क्या होगा, ७० वर्षों तक सोते रहे और एक बार भी राष्ट्र के बारे में नहीं सोचा।  

आज वही बुद्धिजीवी राष्ट्र के सैनिकों का अपमान करते है, पड़ोसी राष्ट्र में जा कर अपने राष्ट्र का अपमान करते हैं एवं अपने ही राष्ट्र में भ्रष्टाचार को बढ़ावा देते हैं।  हम आज भी सो रहे हैं, एवं उन्हें अनुकरणीय समझ रहे हैं, या हम ७० वर्ष के इस राष्ट्र की राष्ट्रीय धरोहर को ही खो रहे हैं?

स्वतंत्रता के ७० वर्ष बाद भी हम स्वतंत्र नहीं हैं, हमारी सोच स्वतंत्र नहीं है। हम आज भी सामाजिक अराजकता के अधीन इस राष्ट्र को पंगु बनाने में लीं हैं।

यदि आज हमें कुछ करने की आवश्यकता है तो सर्वप्रथम अपने विचारों को स्वतंत्र कर राष्ट्र निर्माण में सहयोग करने की, ना की किसी युवराज अथवा किसी भांड के पीछे चल स्वयं को स्वतंत्र कहने की।








Sunday, August 20, 2017

India @ 70 - Part 1

With yet another Independence Day celebration on August 15, 2017, India and the Indians were jubilant over the typical hash tag - India at 70. Nationalists were all in for the praise of the present government, while the liberals were causing all the hue and cry around the misses and messes in the political scenario.

But in the whole turn, the nation seems to have forgotten the incident of August 11, 2017 when almost 70 new borns went to definite permanent sleep in the State of Uttar Pradesh.  When we look at the question why?, the obvious answer from any government agency, minister or legislature would be lack of oxygen cylinder supply.  Liberals would target government over it and the government would highlight the failures of the previous government in setting up the right process.  In short, the actual cause for the case would get overshadowed with blames and counter blames.  But, what needs to be looked at the bureaucratic approach that caused the acute shortage of life saving supply to a Government Hospital. 

The Supplier agency was sending reminder alerts to the hospital for delayed unpaid invoices, but no one was there in the bureaucratic chain to heed to those alerts. In the mean time the contract of the supplier gets over and he stops supply of the Oxygen Cylinders, so that makes it much grave a situation than it could have been.  Ultimately the impact was on the lives of those who were to still see the world, they rather saw the cruelty way ahead of the time they could have.  They became the posthumous witness of the entire episode. Many of them leaving the world without may be getting a name by which we shall have said the prayers for their souls to attain the peace.

But, is this the first such case in the Medical Industry in India?  Is this the only case that has been reported and has made some splash in the political corridors as well as media?  The answer probably is Yes, because in recent times this is the most grievous incident that we have witnessed.  But going back in the history of Indian Government Medical History, there are probably more that should teach us a lesson or two:
  1. Case of the medicine supply where the doctor in charge goes missing after being identified as the culprit and master mind behind the nexus that diverted hospital supplies to private nursing homes and pharmacists. He is declared dead, but the nexus created by him was still being run that certainly he controlled from his abode away from where the cops would have looked for him.  With adequate political backing by the then ruling government, he was well covered, but finally gets caught  and sentenced - Case from Uttar Pradesh
  2. Case of counterfeit / fake drugs being supplied to the Government hospitals by the suppliers while diverting the original to the pharmacists at lower prices and make mullah on both ends.  high profile government officials as well as politicians involved in the racket - Case from multiple states in India, Specifically to highlight - Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa & Maharashtra. Modus Operandi is so neat that only the middle man are caught and then the case gets into the cold basket with no headway.  This still happens and the common man suffers.
  3. Case of multiple murders across India for opposing the above practices; culprit gets off as only the offender gets caught and gets a max punishment of Life imprisonment (14 or 20 years). In many cases, the offender gets out way ahead and lives a normal life.  Forget the justice for the political backing for the main culprits and the offenders.

So, if we look at the state of Affairs in the Medical Arena, there is a lot of corruption that has marred the medical supply affair.  What is needed is to clean this malpractice and uproot the corruption in the medical supply chain model.  Unless Government, Media and the public acts to end it, India @ 70 would still be immature Baby rather than a grown up nation.

Saturday, April 29, 2017

Baahubali 2 - Why Katappa Killed Baahubali

The question which was unanswered for almost 1.5 year has finally been answered in the Sequel of Baahubali.  Continued form the previous saga of moving from present to past and then leaving us all fazed with the question - "Why Did Katappa Kill Baahubali?".  Now the movie Baahubali - 2 starts from the same Flash Back and continues to carry the story to get us the answer and then brings us back to the present of the movie to head to climax.

The movie continues to ride on the Visual Effect (VFX) but lacks on the quality work that was exhibited in the first part.  Acting wise NassarSathyaraj, Ramya Krishnan and Rana Daggubati have done a wonderful job. Prabhas and Anushka Shetty were fine and Tamannah hardly had any role this time.  The VFX artists or more common to say the guys who worked on Virtual reality were not as good either though it could have been the same team as the first part.  At many instances the shoddy work was quite evident and I can very well state that out with - 
  1. Sequences with Elephants
  2. All the sequences with Bulls
  3. Sequence where Devasena walks with head of Bhadra (Bhallaldev's son)
  4. Entire Pindhari Sequence
  5. The war scenes were also not as good as the part 1
In fact the Bull Sequence was a clear copy from the storyline of Baajirao Peshwa and certainly loses the originality that you expect in such a grand movie.

However, I would say the movie is an overall entertainer and it ensures that even if you are not able to connect with the storyline (which is a bit sloppy), you would love the way a few sloppy work and concepts make you laugh through the story.  Well, Yeah there are a few mistakes or say presentation errors that would certainly be tickling your funny bone.

Now coming back to the Answer to the Prime Question - Why Katappa Killed Baahubali? so that is something that is certainly not answered in most of the jokes that are making round on WhatsApp or elsewhere. The right answer, well is pretty neatly answered in the movie and for that I think if you are going to the movie, I wouldn't be spoiling the game.

The movie with its hype is already a big earner, but certainly doesn't live up to the hypes....

And, for those who are the fan of Baahubali, we have just seen the Beginning and the Conclusion, there is more to come probably in late 2018. The storyline is actually a trilogy and Before the Beginning or the Part 1, there is a trivia on How Shivagami rose to the power and how the whole saga actually started.  There is another twist that is expected probably with the Storyline getting enhanced with Bhadra's next line getting raised to take revenge by Bijjaladeva portrayed by Nassar.  





Sunday, March 19, 2017

Catching up on UP Elections

Five states in India underwent Assembly elections earlier this month and the results were not too encouraging for the opposition parties.  The current ruling party BJP won with clear majority in two states - Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand where as with some support formed Government in Manipur and Goa. The only state they lost elections is Punjab, the state where it so seems that anti-incumbancy wave against Akali Dal took toll on the election results with Congress (INC) winning majority of seats there.  Interesting though that INC could save that one state to get some grace marks.

However, Indian media is all gong ho about the results in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh that can actually define the results of 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.  The specific wave that is getting built once again is the "20% Muslim" voters in Uttar Pradesh not getting a Muslim representative. How interesting it is that the Pseudo Literates and Pseudo Liberals of India are amazed on "How can BJP gain such a massive support in Uttar Pradesh when they didn't field a single Muslim candidate?" They totally overlook the major swing that BJP saw in the eastern state of Manipur where they won 21 seats starting from 0 from the last assembly elections.  Though this may not seem to be a swing in favor of BJP per say, but somewhere it may be a swing resounding the support for Nation's Government lead by Mr. Modi.

I am not sure how literate are the Pseudo Literates in the country that when they open their mouth, they can only talk about the religious divide. Incidentally, these Pseudo Literates try to impose that they are nations' voice. They forget that the News Channel where they think they are being invited and where they would spew their venom on caste and religion, doesn't have a viewership of 2% from where it was a leader. Indeed, I am talking about NDTV and the show that was hosted by Vikram Chandra.  I just watched it for 2 minutes in between my channel surfing and boom, all I could hear was religious divide. As I said, these Pseudo Literates seem to have forgotten that it was the Central Government that spoke about the honor of women including the Muslim Women and it was they who spoke against the inequality prevailing in the Muslim communities where women is treated more like a slave than a family member.  It was the voice against triple talaq that made the difference for the Muslim women who thought at last someone is taking their side.  It doesn't matter whether someone supporting them was Hindu or Muslim, for them it was someone who spoke about their dignity and that's what seems to have swung the votes of Muslim voters in favor of BJP and BJP won even those seats which were dominated by Muslim voters.

I am not sure how and and when these simple and easy to understand points would be learned by the Pseudo Literates and not sure when they would be able to rise above the Religion and Caste business.    Also, I am not sure when the 80% result swing could be seen with 4 out of 5 states voting for BJP, why are these pseudo liberals stuck only to results in one state?

Ah, and before I close this topic rather than stretching, I recalled the Behenji was so hurt that she point at the EVMs favoring BJP (were the EVMs also Religious?) and then The greatest comedian of our times picked up to be thrashed by the Judiciary




Author's Note: Interestingly, it so sounds that while conveying the probable cause of the vote swing, even I caused some communal divide. But, that is not what I intended to. 


Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Article 370 and Refugees

It is a very interesting case where the article 370 specifically crafted out at the time of JLN doesn't provide any rights of settlement in J&K to Indian citizens. Moreover, those who migrated to the state after a particular date or time haven't been given the right to vote and right to apply for government post in the state.  The gravity of the situation is so gross that the Kashmiri Brahmins were literally thrown out of the Kashmir Valley, their homes, to become refugees in own country and live in camps away from their rightful place in their homes in J&K.

Now, come the case of Rohingyas from either Bangladesh or Myanmar, all the rules and all the cases of cultural imbalance are being thrown out of the window by the state government to let the specific organizations settle these Refugees from altogether another country in J&K and more so in the Jammu & Laddakh areas.  

Why is the question that needs to be answered by the state government, supported by non other than BJP.  It indeed is a pretty serious or should I say precarious situation that would go long way to create more crisis in the state by actually creating an imbalance in the two belts that are predominantly non-muslim areas.  

Should we actually look at the case where both the Jammu as well as Laddakh had raised the concern of violence in Kashmir Valley to separate from the country. Representatives form the two regions went out to the extent of seeking separation from J&K into their own regions and still stay with India.

So, now why is the Secular sect of India so silent on this state sponsored migration to J&K region creating cultural imbalance? Why is media not highlighting the case and bringing out the facts to all of us.  Interestingly this very same media was at the forefront of reporting against palate guns and talking in favor of stone pelters; this media was the one fueling the fire and putting words in mouth of anti-India movement.

For me, it is the high time that article 370 itself is repealed and the state of J&K in itself welcomes all the citizens of India equally.  This will not just have flourishing trade, but also all round development of the region as a whole.

SC Encroachment on Traditions

I am actually dazed at the way some NGOs and then the activists act against the Indian Traditions, whereas they do hell lot of marketing of western culture to prompt Indian Youth to bank on Western Culture.  Consider the way these Liberal Activists just stand in support of Valentines Day, Rose Day, Friendship Day etc when the western world isn't sure why to celebrate those days.  Isn't that a strange case that most of the western celebrations are based on the lowly values carried with them and no logical base other than strong marketing by certain set of companies?

More so, with the recent turn of events, it has come out to be a big blow to some of the Indian traditions specifically with these rights activists leading to the doors of SC and getting verdict in their favor.  They were successful in getting ban on #Jallikattu in Taminadu, Reduce the height for Dahi Handi events and may be a few others.  They are even eyeing on getting a ban on may be crackers during Diwali and may be promote Wax candles than earthen lamps.  Well, isn't that strange that both fire-crackers and earthen lamps production help many families run their livelihood.  It is pretty much a foul attempt to let on Vehicular and Industrial pollution ruin our lungs and our health on the name of industrialization round the year and then seek ban on crackers that was used only for 5 days.  It indeed is the irony of the case that puts me in dilemma on how a oil based earthen lamp causes more pollution than a wax lamp, when the oil based earthen lamp is more environmentally friendly than the wax lamp; in both cases be when it burns v/s when it is to be disposed.

There are may reasons where these so called activists stand up on certain ill attempted education with certainly NO base and logic.  They use some Photoshopped images with their articles with no base and with no legitimate proof on what they say; in-effect there is none actually. The logic and the words used by them simply make me laugh at their naive attempt to serve the purpose of their masters.

Specifically coming to the #Jallikattu, it is a display of row power and highlight of the cattle breeding industry. This is something that aligns with the overall Cattle Industry and trade that keeps local healthy breeds in shape with regular rotation. This tradition has a scientific base of rotation to avoid inbreeding and ensure continuity of healthy cattle raising.  A ban on this also calls for a ban on Pushkar Mela, the largest Cattle show / market on this planet (Yeah doesn't sound logical; yeah because it indeed is a illogical statement).  However, these activists would come in support of Pushkar mela (may be not) siting that it is a Cattle Market not a celebration.  However, if they ever stood against Pushkar Mela, they would have to bow down because that wouldn't be possible for them to sustain against in SC with their illogical demands.  They succeeded in case of #Jallikattu because they could produce some gory Photoshoped images and the justice bench of SC didn't do any fact check.

Now coming to the role of SC in these judgements that delivered nothing but a blow to Indian traditions, I am appalled at the way they were even considered.  SC could have defined certain conditions to be met for these traditional sports rather than banning them outright.  Somewhere they played in the hands of these activists supporting the ulterior motive of some western manipulators.  SC could have actually looked at the Tomatilo Festival of Spain that #Peta like organizations couldn't ban.  More so, #Peta like organizations work as typical marketing companies for promoting certain vested interests of certain organizations.  They live on double standards where killing the animals to eat meat is fine for them, but killing the same animal to get leather for shoes, jackets and belts is wrong.  

I would actually call for a fact check by SC to ensure that they understand the true essence of the Traditional Indian sports before passing a judgement. They need to go out their to first witness the reality rather than passing a judgement on certain gory images and idiotic logic by the #Peta like marketing organizations.SC should stop encroaching  with traditions specifically when they do not step in with other religious traditions. Just because an average Indian (or do I still need to specify HINDU) has a higher degree of patience, doesn't mean that other religions get liberty to do things on their whims and fancies for their festivals with even prayers broadcasted through loudspeakers; and the hindus' keep facing bans after bans that serve the ulterior motive of some organizations to eradicate Hinduism from this planet.....

Does that Ring Bell with SC?? and with those jokers acting to be activists??