Maharashtra: Is it the end for the Sena

Nov 1. I am writing this post barely after two weeks when the Congress led Democratic Front won the Maharashtra Assembly Elections again,thus retaining Mantralaya for the third consecutive time. The Congress improved upon its tally of 69 in 2004 to 82 in this poll and gaining a golden opportunity to dictate over its coalition partner , the NCP. NCP lost 9 seats and bagged 62 seats as compared to 71 in the previous polls.

But the main loser was the Shiv Sena, the self proclaimed champion of the"marathi manoos" in the state.by its chief, Balasaheb Thackeray. Thackeray, who had played the bhumiputra or "sons of soil " card for four decades, was left clueless as he saw his rebel nephew Raj Thackeray's Maharashra Navnirman Sena playing spoilsport in the former's chances of returning to power again.The Sena lost 18 seats and its tally went down to 44 ,whereas its partner BJP lost 08 and bagged 46. Raj Thackeray's MNS bagged 13 seats , but should be credited for eating up a large chunk of Marathi votes from the Shiv Sena-BJP share.

Now talking about Sena's misery , the senior Thackeray must have underestimated Raj's ever increasing popularity among the Marathi voters. On the other hand,Raj fielded Marathi candidates in every constituency where Sena had fielded theirs. This ultimately led to the defeat of many Sena candidates resulting in the gains of both the Congress and the NCP.Thackeray's strategy of projecting his son Uddhav as the next chief minister failed miserably as the voters could not connect themselves with the heir to the throne of Maharashtra's biggest party.Unlike Raj,who has gained immense popularity among the voters which has led to the speculations that he will surely supercede his cousin and become an efficient player in the politics of the state.

Now talking about Raj, the rebellious nephew left no stone unturned to make his grand old uncle realize his mistake which the former committed 2 yrs ago which had led Raj to quit the Sena and form his MNS. The Shiv Sena lost plot miserably as it failed to make use of the opportunity to weaken Raj during his tirade against the North Indians.Instead the Sena made a half hearted attempt to garner Marathi votes by launching offensive against North Indians in its newsletter Saamna. As a result, it not only lost the Marathi votebank but also the North Indian voters who voted for the Congress to evict the Sena.

Before the 2004 elections, Bal tackeray had declared that he won't shave his beard unless Sena-BJP is voted back to power.Now after the 2009 debacle, it seems that the old tiger will have to remain another 5 years unshaven.

Diwali : Has it really become a festival of pomp and pollution?

Oct 17. I remember when i was very young , i used to eagerly wait for the festival of lights,Deepawali. The reason for this eagerness was to see the flower pots or "anar" sprouting upwards ,or chakri throwing out fire sparkles. Not to forget the rockets which used to shoot up like missiles into the sky. All this used to fascinate me a lot. Thats why I made sure that i got those crackers before the festival. I along with many of my friends used to enjoy bursting bombs,lighting sparkles and many more. While enjoying the illuminating crackers, we used to forget the children working in a place far away from our home in Tamil Nadu, known as Sivakasi, are working tirelessly for our pleasure. While putting their life and future at risk, many generations of laborours have been working in Sivakasi to ensure that the countrymen never fall short of crackers in any Diwali.

I wonder whether the festival of lights has become the festival of pomp and pollution. Yes, it has . In todays world, Diwali means exchanging precious gifts and bursting crackers which not only pollutes the atmosphere, but also symbolizes futile spending of money.

Sivakasi is a big industrial centre in the Virudhnagar district of Tamil Nadu and is also the fireworks hub of the country.This is because 90% of India’s fireworks are produced here. Most of the workers in the factory are educated and are thus employed with minimum wages. It is pathetic to see that most of the workers are children who work in hazardous conditions. Moreover ,while wasting huge amount of money, we never think of doing something for those labourers in the factory, who have the same right to get educated like us.

In the era where there is a lot of hue and cry about ozone depletion and global warning , shouldn’t we act as responsible citizens and stop the people from polluting the atmosphere.I know its foolish of me of giving sermons about environment protection.

Its high time when we realize the reason of the celebrations of Diwali as a symbol to mark the victory of good over evil. Instead of draining out huge sum of money and polluting Mother Earth,we can use this money to brighten someone’s life.

Can she pull off an upset in '11 Bengal Polls?

Mamta Banerjee: Very optimistic

The recent Lok Sabha elections in early in the month of May have led to the miserable defeat of the Left Front ,led by the Communist Party of India(Marxist).The Left were humiliated by the Congress-All India trinamool Congress in West Bengal,the state which the Left considered it as an unintruded fortress since 1977.The Trinamool wave created havoc in the Left cadres with Trinamool bagging 19 seats from previous tally of 1 in 2004.Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee is all set to compound the Left's miseries in the next Assembly plls scheduled in 2011.

The Congress and Trinamool agreed to contest elections together to combat the Left forces. Both the parties contested together on 41 out of 42 seats.While Congress won 4 seats out of 14 it contested,Trinamool bagged 19 out of 27.In contrast ,Left seat tally fell from 34 in 2004 to 15 in 2009. The Trinamool -Congress combo gained maximum advantage from the Nandigram and Singur issues. Many senior Left leaders lost in their constituencies like Mohammad Saleem of CPI(M) lost to Sudip Bandopadhyay of Trinamool in his Kolkata Uttar constituency,Lakshman Seth to Adhikari Suvendu of Trinamool from Tamluk ,Sujan Chakraborty to Kabir Suman of Trinamool from Jadavpur and many others.It may be noted that Mohammad Saleem had earlier won from the same constituency in 2004 elections.
It will be interesting to see whether the Left recuperates from the post electoral blues or fails to defend its fortress which it has held since 1977.