The Great Indian Garland Saga.......

March 24. The recent saga surrounding Mayawati's Rs 5 crore garland has become a burning issue around the country. The garland offered to the BSP chief on Kanshi Ram Jayanti on 15th March in Lucknow has ceased to be a mere publicity stunt by the ruling party and its chief. Rather it has shown that the BSP can go to any extent to win back its support base in the state.

The party through its grandeur on March 15 has tried to show that it is not behind other parties when it comes to showing the money power.Despite Opposition's hue and cry over the drain of money on the celebration, the party workers did not stop from presenting another garland worth Rs 18 lakhs, a few days later.

This clearly shows that Mayawati is in no mood to let the Dalit votes slip away from her hands amidst the resurgent Congress and a fuming Mulayam Singh Yadav. However, the garland will not improve the state which has deteriorated in terms of basic resources. The state government, in a bid to immortalise the Chief Minister has spent lavishly on erecting memorials even as the state is in dismal state. The misrule of the ruling government has given teeth to the armour of the Opposition, which is leaving no stone unturned to target the CM.

It would be interesting to see whether the government policies or the garland will benefit the state and the government or not.

Times at Connaught Place

Feb 22."bhaiya, zara golgappe toh chakh lo"(Brother, please taste my golgappas?) I turned back to see an old man of 50 something looking at me with anticipation.Actually, golgappas are balls made out of flour with mashed potatoes and water containing spices are filled into them.It is a popular snack item in India. I couldn’t resist the temptation of the spicy golgappas and pounced upon them. With watering eyes and soaring throat, I managed to eat 10 of them. I paid the vendor and set out for my next destination, the Kaventer’s.

Flashback. It was a bright sunny Sunday morning when I decided that I would not let this day go wasted. Actually, Sunday is the only day I get to sleep late till 10 in the morning.As none of my friends were willing to sacrifice their slumber for a sunny afternoon walk amidst crowded lanes of CP, I had to make up my mind to go alone.The Connaught Place was bustling with activity, as usual. Moreover, today was Sunday and many people had come to enjoy with their families. After a long spell of chilly winter, everyone was relieved that they wont have to cover themselves with sweaters.

As I was lost in my flashback, I collided with a Mercedes Benz standing in front of the Kaventer’s in the parking lot.I managed to support myself . The driver of the car stared at me scornfully. I apologized to him and felt it wise to move away from the place. Kaventer’s is a famous eating outlet in Delhi , known for its milk shakes. I had a cup full of butter scotch flavor and then advanced towards the Wenger’s just at a stone throw’s distance. Wenger’s is famous for its pastries.

It was going to get dark and I felt it necessary to go back. With a heavy heart I left the CP for the Metro station for my hostel. That was the end of myholiday.

GenNext Politicos: Should the youth take over the affairs?

Jan 1. The previous year 2009 saw a major turnaround in the Indian political scenario. The most significant event being the 15th Lok Sabha Elections which gave the Grand Old Party of India, the Congress its highest number of seats since 1989 and enabled it to return to power for the second time in succession.


But the change which the nation witnessed was the role which the youth brigade played in deciding the political course during the elections. The young leaders, especially Rahul Gandhi, the scion of India's first political family smilingly stole the show as political stalwarts like L K Advani and Mayawati watched in utter silence. The tireless effort by Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders propelled the party to 206 seats as compared to 145 in the 2004 polls. The elections saw 79 MPs under 40 from all the parties altogether making their way to the symbol of India's largest democracy.


Now, talking about the youth, the Congress was able to use the youth factor successfully as compared to other parties. Though, almost all of the young MPs of the Congress belong to various dynasties , but it cannot be ruled out that the people, of whom 75% are below 40 , now prefer young, dynamic leaders instead of old leaders accused of caste ,religion and regional politics. Young Turks like Sachin Pilot, Jitin Prasada , Jyotiraditya Scindia ,Priya Dutt and many others were not only able to re-elect themselves to the 543 MPs strong House of the People but also managed to catch the voter's attention and support.

The upcoming decade might see a number of young , dynamic leaders shaping the outlook of the country. But the major concern is that almost all of the prominent young politicians have inherited their fathers legacy. As a result, many aspiring youth feel themselves handicapped due to the absence of any political background with them. Also because of the corruption and criminalisation of politics, the youth are reluctant to join the system.

At the end, it is left to the political parties to decide whom they want to give the responsibilty of running the country after them

Hard Days Ahead

Dec 15. It was May 2007, when Ku. Mayawati led Bahujan Samaj Party swept the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections,winning 206 out of 403 seats. The dalit czarina silenced all her critics by taking her party to majority for the first time,becoming the first majority party in the state since 1991.The social engineering agenda of the 52 year politician had reaped huge dividends as Mayawati became centre of all attention in the politics of India. Mulayam Singh Yadav and his Samajwadi Party associates could never understand what had hit them.

Fast Forward,March 2009.Mayawati begins her campaign of becoming the first Dalit Prime Minister of India by initiating her Lok Sabha campaign.She fields 509 out of 543 candidates, most of whom are either rich industrialists or dreaded goons bailed out by the Chief Minister.Two months later, the results are declared. The Manmohan Singh led Indian National Congress wins 206 out of 545 Lok Sabha seats. But the even more shocking is the Congress romping home in UP, winning 21 out of 80 seats in the state.On the other hand ,BSP could just win 2 seats more than its previous tally of 18. The victory of Congress was widely attributed to Congress General Secratery Rahul Gandhi's vigorous campaign in the state.The Gandhi scion's visit to Dalit homes worked wonders as Congress made deep inroads into the BSP's Dalit votebank.

As the recent results of the bye-elections to the 11 assembly constituencies and a Lok Sabha seat is to be taken into account, BSP has won 9 out of 11 seats while the Congress has only won one seat of Lucknow West by Shyam Sharan Shukla. However , Congress won the crucial Firozabad Lok Sabha seat,with SP rebel Raj Babbar defeating Mulayam singh's daughter -in-law, Dimple. The win was crucial as Firozabad seat was vacated by Akhilesh Yadav ,as he had chosen to vacate it over Kannauj.

Now speaking about Mission 2012, BSP has managed to win 9 seats which indicates that the BSP has still not lost touch with its voters. On other hand,its main rival,the Samajwadi Party has shown a degradation both in terms of votes and seats.The Congress may have won 21 seats this time but the party has much to do before it can hope to pull of an upset in 2012 when the state goes for polls. No doubt the Congress leadership has been entrusted upon the responsibility to strengthen the party base in the state. Congress general secy. Rahul Gandhi has instructed its party workers to build up the party base in the state. The NSUI and Youth Congress wings have been instructed to recruit more youths to the party.

It is now left to be seen how much does the Congress succeed in rebuild itself in the journey towards winning back the state which was its stronghold.

Will he repeat it again.....??

Dec 15. Not less than a year is left when the state of Bihar goes on the electoral floors next year.Post Lalu, the state has batted a numerous eyelids more due to the 'sushasan' claimed by its ruler,Nitish Kumar.The 4 yr and 23 days old BJP-JD(U) government in the state which witnessed a 15 yr old 'jungle raj' by Lalu Yadav and his better half Rabri Devi led RJD government.The state voted for a change during the re-polls in November 2005,which ousted the RJD government out of power and installed JD(U) politician Nitish Kumar as the state's 31st Chief Minister. The JD(U)-BJP alliance then had bagged 147 seats as compared to RJD's tally of 65.

The 55 yr old Kumar began a journey towards his promise of transforming Bihar from a' jungle raj ' to a 'sushaasit pradesh'. this included a massive crackdown on the feisty politicians or the 'baahubalis', mostly fom the RJD. The Bihar government fell heavily on the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats ,who were unable to give up their old habits. The Chief Minister began to hold 'junta durbars' to listen to the grievance of the common people. The Nitish wave reaped rich dividends in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections when BJP-JD(U) combine bagged 32 out of the state's tally of 40.The JD(U) bagged 20 and BJP romped home with 12. On the other hand , it spelt doomsday for RJD and LJP,the other two parties in the state.While the once ruling RJD had its seats tally down from 22 to 04, LJP failed to win a single seat.The greatest shock was the defeat of LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan, from his constituency Hajipur,which he had held it unbeaten since 1977.

However, the bye elections for 18 assembly seats concluded in September have yielded surprising results.the results have come as a shock to the ruling NDA government. JD(U) could win only 3 seats with its ally BJP win 2,while RJD-LJP alliance winning 8 out of 18 seats which had gone for bye-polls.The JD(U) has been riddled with inner party discontent as senior leaders like Digvijay Singh and George Fernandes have left the party due to what they have alleged as Nitish's 'dictatorship'.however,the bye elections shouldnt be taken so seriously as the Bihar government has won accolades from all over the state,and chances are there that he will repeat its victory again in 2010,when the state goes for the polls.

Maharashtra: Who gains from this linguistic chauvinism?

Nov 22.The ghost of lingual and regional chauvinism has raised his head again.And the habitat is the same,the financial capital of India,Mumbai.Ever since the attack on Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi in the Assembly, the evil spirit of regional violence has woken up after barely a year.The perpetrator is the same,MNS chief Raj Thackeray.Barely a year ago, Raj's goons carried out a month long offensive against North Indians in Maharashtra. Raj's uncle,Shiv Sena supremo and 'parent' of the 'bhumiputra' agenda , Balasaheb Thackeray had indirectly supported the tirade against the migrants.In a bid to outdo his ambitious nephew,Balasaheb had launched a verbal tirade against the North Indians in his party newsletter,Saamna.

Who gains and who loses from this irrational violence?Well, there is nothing wise in violence. But the question still forces us to think.Is it the MNS,Shiv Sena or the state government who is using the MNS to cut the Marathi vote bank from the Sena.Whoever the gainer may be, the clear losers are those migrant workers who come to this "mayanagari" in search of a livelihood.Their mistake is just that they speak Hindi or their mother tongue.

This is not the first time Maharashtra has witnessed violence on regional grounds.If we go back to the 60's, similar onslaught was carried by the Sena who was in the nursery.That time the victims were the south Indians.The Sena cadre workers used to manhandle South Indians,vandalise South Indian restaurants, offices and other properties.This time , the victims are the north Indians from UP, Bihar and other Hindi speaking states.The Sena and MNS allege that the marathi manoos can never prosper unless these outsiders are thrown out of the state.

Now I would like to ask who has given the parties like the Sena to decide who shall reside and who shan't.According to the constitution of India, every Indian citizen has the right to reside and settle in any part of India.I would also like to question those people sitting in constitutionally elected people their unwillingness to protect the migrant's rights. Its high time when we stand up together to prevent such narrow minded people from being successful in their objectives.Otherwise, the day is not far away when our country is broken into several states on baseless grounds.

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.