Deliberate Gaffes

People are missing the wood for the trees.

As the counting day of Gujarat Election gets nearer, Congress has to find reasons for the resounding defeat it is likely to face, especially in view of Rahul Gandhi follishly upping the ante in an election where BJP was always going to win.

For Gujaratis, Modi is their pride and there is no other State which is as Hindu as Gujarat.

With Rahul Gandhi about to be anointed as Party Chief, and with him running around Gujarat temples brandishing his newfound Shiv Bhakth status, and poised for a thrashing in the elections, Congress needs an excuse to protect the scion.

Hence the utterences by Kapil Sibal in Supreme Court first asking Ayodhya Hearing to be postponed post 2019 elections, followed by motormouth Mani Shanker Aiyer calling Modi a “Neech”.

Mani resigned from Foreign Service and is very close to Sonia, as also Kapil Sibal. Both are intelligent men to make gaffes like this without Sonia Gandhis or Congress Dirty Tricks Department to make such comments.

They were made deliberately so that Congress can cite them as reason when they eventually get thrashed in Gujarat

Indian Middle Class Hypocricy

The much hyped Middle Class in India are the biggest hypocrites.

 

Two years ago, one of my Colleagues, a Senior Consultant working in Oman, but hailing from Tamil Nadu was vociferous about the Corruption in his home State. Most of the days one can hear him accuse both the AIADMK and DMK of destroying Tamil Nadu. He was a practicing Christian, and his wife was a Senior Government Servant. We all used to agree with him that the politicians in TN were a class apart in looting the State and how black money was the root cause of all evil.

 

Then his son passed his XII standard with around 70% marks. He moved heaven and earth to get a Medical Seat for his son, and ultimately paid close to Rs 55 Lakhs as Capitation Fee, and another Rs 50 Lakhs to be paid as Fee for the next 4-5 years. He also was using his Christian connection to the hilt, and even once had the temerity to tell me that he told his Parish Priest "Why should I be a Christian, if you cannot get my son a seat in a Christian College?'

 

One day, after he paid the Capitation Fee (he converted his hard earned white money to black money to achieve this!), he was again heard talking about Corruption in the State. I walked out of my cabin, and confronted him that he himself has contributed to creation of black money just recently.

 

Challenged, he went on the defensive. He said, he had no choice. I replied that he indeed had. All his son had to do is to study well and get a Medical Seat on Merit. Or alternatively he should take up some other course which his marks deserves. He would have none of it. His argument was that his son wanted to be a Doctor and nothing else. I stood my ground, and told him that then he should have worked towards this goal by studying hard and scoring high marks. All my logic fell on deaf ears.

 

He started blaming the Government, the Educational system, Self Financing Colleges, their greed for him having to pay the Capitation Fee. He did not want to take any responsibility for his action of abetting corruption to meet his ends and was in fact justifying his action for almost an hour. He wanted everyone to clean up their act before he turns honest

 

I saw the futility of arguing with him, but told him in no uncertain terms that he has forfeited his right to talk about corruption.

 

I made an enemy that day!!!

 

This is the typical Indian Middle Class hypocrisy.

 

The Indian Middle Class has been shouting about rising corruption, increase in circulation of Black Money, Political Ineptitude, Tax Evasion, Poor Services for ages. They wanted the Government to take action and clean up the mess.

 

Then they got the wish on 8th November 2016. Demonetization, followed by Digitalization, Aadhar Card linkage, insistence on Tax compliance had every economic crook running for cover.

 

You would expect the Middle Class to support the Government right?

 

But No!

 

The Middle Class, were evading the tax themselves by not insisting on bills for purchase, spending black money on real estate deals, not declaring their income to the Authorities, enjoying privileges like PDS, free White Goods, Subsidies, getting rent for their Property without disclosing et al., which they didn't deserve, and not being questioned by anyone, suddenly found themselves being disciplined and ask to organize their lives with the prevailing laws. And they hated it.

 

The Middle Class is the biggest hypocrites. They want everyone else, the Politicians, Bureaucrats, Society and even the Poor to clean up their acts, but they want their perks and privileges to be preserved, and not questioned.

 

It is why the Middle Class don't like Modi. They don't want to contribute to Nation Building.

 

But the Middle Class Vote Bank is a myth. They never went out and voted in any election. They were only good at cribbing, sitting at home. They mocked the poor and under privileged, ridiculed their lack of education, and wailed that it is the votes of these guys that decide who rules India.

 

They forgot that the Poor are Street Smart, more Socially Responsible, and Politically Savvy. They have always voted with sense, after Emergency, or Janata Rule, or for VP Singh (a vote against Corruption) and then decisively against the Congress and in favour of Modi in 2014. They know what is good for them. They stand in a much higher pedestal than the hypocrite Middle Class.

 

Modi knows this too. All his actions are aimed at creating a disciplined society, and upliftment of the poor, who constitute 70% of the Vote Bank. He is ensuring they get Electricity, Water, Toilets, Benefits of Direct Cash Transfer, Housing and Road Connectivity. Poor wants to live with dignity. They don't expect free lunch like the Middle Class. They are willing to tighten their belt and ensure India progresses.

 

And the rogue Middle Class who cuts corners? They have to either Ship up or Shape out. It is time they realized they don't have as much clout  they think they have. Their wailing against Demonetization and Tax Compliance don't matter at all.

 

That is the reality.

Demonetization is a "Small Step taken by a Bold Prime Minister, but a Giant Leap in the Country's fight against Black Money and Lawless Economy"

Much has been said about Demonetization that I don't want to add to the clutter in the cyber space by restating the obvious. I would rather take a different route.

 

I know a Real Estate Broker in a Semi Urban Town in South India. A very nice guy, he used to run a small bakery, lost everything, and then became immensely rich by becoming a Real Estate Broker.

 

A humble man, who is ever helpful, and who has not forgotten his past, he was the king in his business in his Town. The Doctors who wanted to stash away their black money, the NRIs who wanted to pay as little Stamp Duty as possible, other Businessmen who wanted to park their ill gotten wealth flocked to him before. He was trustworthy, and had a select set of loyal clients.

 

He dealt only in Cash, was a critical cog in the wheel of shady real estate transactions, helped suppress market value, aided buyers in underpricing the land so that they pay less stamp duty, facilitated Cash Transactions with Banking Transactions reduced to a bare minimum which helped the Crooks to route their Black Money. At any point of time you could see him with a Crore or two in liquid cash, and he lived a good life. Every now and then he will take off to a Metro, check in to a 5 Star Hotel and spent lavishly on himself. He also purchased land banks running into acres and hectares. He had no qualms about spending money on food or cars or hotels.

 

Then Demonetization hit on November 8th mid night 2016. He was made to run from pillar to post to deposit and convert the cash he had on hand. He asked everyone's help to allow him to deposit Rs 2.5 lakhs, the threshold beyond which Income Tax started raising its eyebrows. He asked me also. I flatly refused, though my accounts had limited money, and I had no black money to convert. But nearly 60 others offered him their bank account, and he was able to manage to some extend. He told me later that I was the only one who refused him, but he bears me no grudge. The panic he was in during the initial days of demonetization is difficult to explain.

 

A year down the line, he still deals in land, but his deal flow has reduced to a trickle. The system has not corrected itself, it is still rotten. But people are not as care free as they were before. The land prices have come down, the black money hoarders are scared as most of them are under the radar of ED and IT.

 

My Broker friend do not carry cash any more. He is afraid to spend money unnecessarily. The 5 Star hotel jaunts are a thing in the past. He is very conservative with his spending. He is waiting for the day IT swoops on him. He had already started to diversify to Real Estate Projects before demonetization. But now he is having a serious rethink.

 

He is hunting for people who has White Money, and he just doesn't want to go through the nightmare of last year and the scare he had.

 

In short, Modi's demonetization has put the Fear of God on him and his rogue Clients.

 

They are still carrying on their shady land deal but not as brazenly as before.

 

In short, they got a feeling/fear that their heydays are over.

 

My friend told me over phone that he has lost interest in amassing wealth, and just want to be on the right side of law as much as possible.

 

And he is Scared to Death about the impending implementation of Land Passbook and the strict implementation of the Benami Property Act.

 

HIS EXPERIENCE, to me, is the BIGGEST GAIN from Demonetization.

 

We are being turned slowly into a Honest Country. It wont happen in 5 or 10 years, but this is a baby step.

 

Neil Armstrong purportedly said on landing in Moon "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." (Though Technically this is incorrect. Armstrong, maintained afterwards that he actually said something slightly different: "That's one small step for a man...", which gives a totally different meaning).

 

Demonetization is a "Small Step taken by a Bold Prime Minister, but a Giant Leap in the Country's fight against Black Money and Lawless Economy"

 

 

 

 

Who will say 'Boo' to the Bully?

The Judiciary is making an ass of itself.

 

The Diwali Cracker Sales ban in NCR is another folly of the Supreme Court. In a bizarre judgment, the SC ruled that it is banning Sales of Firecrackers, but not the bursting of Firecrackers, to reduce pollution. People got Firecrackers delivered at doorstep, or purchased from outside Delhi and merrily burst it, much to the dismay of the Tughlaq Judges. Post Diwali, neither the SC nor anyone is even interested in raising this issue further. That this was an agenda driven by pseudo secularists, and anti hindu cartel is obvious to all. Unfortunately, Congress has stuffed the SCs and HCs with such pseudo secularists and it will take at least 10 years to purge at least 50% of them. The case of most of the institutions are similar.

 

The SC doesn't practice what it preaches. While it calls for Transparency and Democracy everywhere in the Country, it shot down the very bill passed by both the Parliament that would have made appointments to Higher Judiciary transparent and democratic. That, it ruled in its favour on a bill where Judiciary itself is the aggrieved party, and where a clear Conflict of Interest existed, is another story.

 

After doing this, it had the galls to interfere in the affairs of BCCI, and demanded that people with Conflict of Interest should quit! SC had no business to administer BCCI, which is a very private body with its own rules. Having taken the responsibility of running BCCI, it had really made a royal mess of it, and do not have a clue as to what to do. In the bargain, BCCI, which is perhaps the only Sports body that has a working Business Model, and do not depend on Government, and which has done much for the propagation and development of Cricket in the Country, lost its face at ICC level, and had to forego the numero uno position it had in the International Body which was built up over a period of three decades. All SC achieved was to replace a set of corrupt administrators with another corrupt set.

 

The SC made National Anthem mandatory in all Cinema Halls, and asked Government to implement it. When Government did it in earnest, SC now has come back and said this is not required, and is now pulling up Government for the same act which it mandated, and asked the Government to find a solution to the mess SC created.

 

SC poking its head into the domain of the Executive is at the cost of Justice to millions. Many important cases are pending decision. The Ayodhya Mandir issue has been pending for a long long time. SC has made a fool of itself in the Sahara Subrata Roy case. Instead of confiscating all his property and auctioning them to recover its dues, it is reduced to pleading him to deposit a few thousand crores, and then extending the deadline again and again. It is yet to give a judgment on the Triple Talaq case, which can have far reaching social effect amongst the Muslim Community. All SC does these days is to scuttle many investigations on some pretext or other, and thrusts its nose into the Executives jurisdiction, especially when it comes to anything involving Hindus, while turning its face away from issues pertaining to Christians, Muslims or National Security.

 

The latest in the case of Judiciary working against national interest is it entertaining a case on Rohingya Muslims, who are living illegally in India. With Government wanting to deport them, and they are indeed a National Security issue, SC should have never allowed the PIL seeking a stay on their deportation.

 

The HCs are in a class of its own. Today Madras HC has banned putting up of banners of living people, without citing any reason!

 

They give Stays at the drop of a hat, and allows culprits to drag the issues till cows come home. The Jallikkatu, Dahi Handi bans are classical examples of judicial over reach.

 

Unfortunately, the Executive lacks spine and is trying to placate the SC rather than showing it its place. With the majority Modi has in Loksabha and a working majority in Rajya Sabha, with it having its own persons in the Chair, and with people on its side, the Government will never get a better chance than this to put a stop to the Judicial overreach.

 

SC is being a bully, and all bullies are cowards. All it takes is for someone to just say 'boo' to them. Will Modi do that?

Ohm: Hari Sree Ganapathaye Namaha: Avighnamasthu - 10 Years of Blogging

"Ohm: Hari Sree Ganapathaye Namaha: Avighnamasthu"

On 9th October 2007, this blog was started as "Raja's World". Later on I rebranded it as "Rajadharmam"

I was living in Kuwait, and blogging was just catching on. Some of my MBA students encouraged me to write a blog. I had no idea how to, or whether I could.

I promised them in early October 2007, I will do the due diligence and commence blogging by 1st January 2008.

I was not in the habit of writing anything other than Official Mails then. And my Non Official writing was very bland to say the least.

I was envious of my Sister-in-Law's brother Mohan (who was just a few years elder to me, but died very young) who could express himself wonderfully in flowery Malayalam. I still remember with awe how he sounded in a letter describing the loss of a neighbor. My father could barely speak good English, but his writing skills were legendary. My case was the opposite. I expressed pretty well while speaking, and was quite humorous, but was too staid when it comes to writing. My father, who died in 2004, often used to chide me that my letters sounded like official mails, and he felt offended.

One of the reasons I asked for time with my students to start blogging, was that I was lacking in Self Confidence.

On 9th October 2007, I was looking at the various blog hosting sites - the popular ones were BlogSpot and WordPress. I liked BlogSpot, and got myself registered.

Saraswathi Pooja was still 12 days away, but on a whim, I wrote my first post Harisree Ganapathaye Namaha: Avignamastu

 

I had no idea how many posts I would or could write, and I never imagined I would still be blogging 10 long years down the line.

 

I used to write almost a blog a day in the initial years, but later on the frequency of blogging dropped. These days I blog sporadically, once in 10-15 days, if at all.

 

What is surprising is that, even today, I get an average view of 100 blog posts per day, which is amazing. A quick look at the Blog Statistics show that my readers are spread far and wide - India to USA to Russia to South Africa to Middle East. I take this opportunity to thank all my readers over the years. I get encouraged to write a blog whenever I see the Blog Stats. It is as if "You guys out there are loyal to me, and I should not let you down by not blogging".

 

I consider it the blessing of Ganapathy, Saraswathi Devi and all my Guru's that I have been able to post more than 1200 blogs over the past 10 years.

 

Good batsmen mark a fresh guard on reaching a milestone like a Century. I too have to do that.

 

On the blog completing 10 years, I rededicate myself to continue blogging for years to come.

 

I take a moment to bow my head in devotion to the Gods, my Gurus, my Forefathers and to my Readers.

 

 

 

 

Of Electricity, LPG, Toilets and Demonetization

I was having a chat with a Teenage Girl who spent her vacation in India recently. Though a supporter of Modi, she had her concerns. She lives in a upper middle class apartment in Pune during the vacation, and she told the tenants were generally very anti Modi.

I had received similar feedbacks from other upper Middle Class sources too.

I am not worried. The mistake Vajpayee made was to pander to the fickle upper middle class, at the expense of the poor. The upper middle class doesnt matter, as they are only good for arm chair criticism, and rarely go out and vote.

What has been winning elections for Modi these past 3 years and what will win him the 2019 mandate (Dr. Praveen Patil of Fivefortythree, whom I respect for his psephology, claims BJP will win > 50% vote share in 2019) are the following, not necessarily in the order,

1. Sowbhagya scheme of providing electricity to rural households and the target of 100% electrification of India
2. Ujjwala  Yojana that provides LPG connection to poor households
3. Swatch Bharath aimed at building Toilets in every household and making the country Open Defecation Free
4. Demonetization

I have personal anecdotal evidence in at least 3 of the 4 cases above how grateful people are regarding similar schemes

Let us take the Sowbhagya Scheme of Rural Electrification. I was the youngest son of a Father who was an Executive Engineer in Kerala State Electricity Board. The period was 1978 - 1982. Father was in charge of Chittur Division, in Kerala. In three years he worked hard to electrify all the villages under his Charge. I know for a fact, it was a first in Kerala, and am sure it will be one of the first in India itself. He never got any accolades for it. But, as a wide eyed young teenager, who used to tag along with his father on all his visits to these villages, and who was a part of the Switching on Ceremony that flooded the remote villages with Electricity (I was given the honour as a 14 year old boy of switching on the Transformer in some cases), I had seen the gratitude in the eyes of the old who have lived their life in darkness, and the thrill in the face of the young. You have to remember that this was the period before Television and Internet. The reception we got in these villages were unbelievable. My father, a Brahmin, was reverently called Swamy, and he was akin to  God to many of these simple villagers. 

There is a post script to this. My father retired in 1985. It was sometime in 1991, me and my father got out of our Volkswagon Beetle, and were crossing the road in Palghat town, when three rural men, rushed across the street, and with utmost respect asked my father whether he remembered them. He had a phenomenal memory. He immediately recognized them as from a Village he electrified during his tenure. They again expressed their gratefulness to him, and told him how his initiative changed their lives forever. One guy proudly said his childrens academic performance improved dramatically after electrification, and his son was doing Engineering in a reputed Government College, and daughter was doing her Post Graduation in Palghat. Normally an unemotional man, I could see that my father was moved that he could touch the lives of many people. He murmured that he only did his duty, and politely took leave of those good men.

Regarding LPG, I know personally how LPG in 1972, when we moved to Palghat from Vadakara, made my Mother's life easier. Earlier she used to struggle with Pressure stove and wick stove. And much earlier, she used Firewood.

In 1989, when I joined Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, as a Sales Office in charge of Coimbatore Sales Area, LPG was just getting popular. Many rural households were reluctant to use LPG, as they feared the Gas Cylinder would explode. I had run campaigns educating these poor women, and slowly they started to adapt to LPG. Then something changed, and within 2 years, there was a massive explosion of demand, and LPG connections were in short supply. But I still vividly remember those poor rural women, who were uncertain about using LPG, eagerly listening to my lecture demonstration in Tamil and their apprehensive questions about safety. What still lingers in my mind is the chatter among themselves after the event, and a new found determination to conquer the fear of the unknown. I am sure use of LPG changed their lives for ever, as it did for my mother couple of decades earlier. During these Lecture-Demonstrations, I would exhort that girls ready for marriage should not agree for marriage unless it is ensured that her husband has a LPG connection. The girls would snigger, but I can clearly recall the steely determination and agreement in the eyes of their mother, who understood the implications of the point I just made.

Most of the poor households in rural india have one or two small rooms, and no separate kitchen. Using firewood fills the room with smoke, makes it dirt and leads to health problems associated with air pollution. I am sure Modi will have their gratitude.

The Toilet issue also brings to my mind memories of my childhood. We always had clean toilets. But my grandparents lived in an Agraharam (Village) where there was only one toilet, which was in abysmal condition. You wouldnt dare enter the toilet, because it was pathetic. I was asked my father to go and stay with my grandparents for at least 2-3 days a week, and I would dread at the prospect of using that toilet. Most of the time, I wouldn't and return home with severe constipation, or stomach cramps. My grandfather never used the toilet and used to defecate in the open. This caused us

considerable embarrassment whenever he visited us, and complaints would flood in from people in the neighbourhood. I was a frequent traveler by train in my youth, and the number of people defecating in the open along Railway Tracks always made me angry. I could see ladies getting up hurriedly whenever the train passes them, protecting their modesty. It still remains a matter of shame. If, in 3 years, Modi's team could build millions of toilets and expect every house to have a toilet in another 2 years, imagine what we could have done in 70 years if only we had the will!

Much has been written about Demonetization. For me it is simple. The poor were watching in angst at the powerful and corrupt amassing wealth, and investing in real estate and Gold, living a lavish life style well above their means, and they were burning with fury. They were helpless. They couldnt even buy a few cents of land, as the prices have sky rocketed. They happily stood in the queue to change their few Rs 1000 notes, but watched in glee as the powerful and corrupt were running for cover. Most approached them with folded hands to allow them to use the poor guys bank account. The poor never expected to see the powerful and corrupt to be brought down to earth overnight, or in their lifetime, and they gave a big thumbs up to Modi.

Add to the above, a Corruption free government, new roads, projects being completed on time, visible signs of infrastructure development around them, the poor and downtrodden never had it so good.

They are the core constituency of Modi and his trump card.

Now itself is too late by a few Decades!

If there is one area I am disappointed with Modi Government, it is the scant disregard shown towards Education in general, and School Education in particular.

 

We first had Smriti Irani, and then Prakash Javedkar as Minister of Education. Both are not suitable for the job at hand.

 

We really need a visionary, with sufficient heft, and a disrupter par excellence.

 

Modi took the role of the disruptor with his bold demonetization move, followed by crackdown on Black Money. We need him to take over Education, and oversee it himself, if he really wish to make a new India.

 

Indian School Education system requires to be broken, shred to pieces and rebuilt. If it creates confusion amongst students and parents for an Academic Year or two, so be it. Anything, just about anything, is better than the farce that is going on in our Schools.

 

Everyone has lost sight of the objective of Education. It has to be to "create our youngsters to be bold, innovative, creative, responsible, knowledgeable, capable citizens who can contribute to the nation".

 

Instead what we have today is a system that takes care of the interests of the Government, School Management, and Parents. It has degraded to the level of testing only the memory of the student, and preparing him for a future where he is incapable of questioning anything.

 

We accuse the British of creating our Education system which was designed to produce Clerks who are capable of working under the British.

 

The biggest crime Nehru did was not to break the Education system when India attained independence. Instead, we continued with the trash, and worse. At least during British era, the teachers were good and passionate (My father used to revere his teachers, while I can count barely one or two teachers who were good, and my next generation cant even think of one who is good) but today, Teaching has become the last refuge of the worst qualified.

 

Everyone site the reason that School Education has become a business. I have no qualms with that, except the acceptance of Capitation Fee and taking donations from Teacher job aspirants - both a strict no in my dictionary. Schools have to run on profit for them to grow, for creating facilities and for paying the teachers well.

 

We need a curriculum which is not generic till Standard X. We need a system where we can identify interests at a young age, and give children the option of acquiring knowledge in their areas of interests, instead of exposing them to everything under the sun.

 

Learning by rot, and testing the child every other week has to go. Children hate school. And why not? What is there in an school to interest them? Teachers come and talk rot for hours in monotonous tones. They never encourage questions. And they use the stick of discipline for everything. We need our children to be free birds, aware of their boundaries but allowed the freedom to explore their areas of interests. Each child has some special skills. We need to encourage them to identify their competencies and excel.

 

Just imagine what would have happened if Dronacharya used the same syllabus for all the Pandavas? Instead he taught Yudhishtiran the art of fighting in a Chariot, Bheeman the skills of using a Mace, Arjunan Archery, Nakulan and Sahadevan the mystery of getting the best out of Horses and Cows, respectively. And combined they were a Powerful unit.

 

We need such a system.

 

India is blessed with a rich Guru Shishya Parambara. We just HAVE to go back to it at the earliest.

 

And we need Modi to act now, as now itself is too late by a few decades!

Turning a Dishonest Country to Honest takes time

The amount of hate messages one gets in Whatsapp targeted at Modi leaves me no doubt that it is an organized effort. What is interesting is that those who forward these messages are from two specific community, Christians and Muslims, especially the former. Apart from them, there is a section of middle class too who seem to be unhappy with the PM, despite the fact that he works tirelessly to bring a semblance of discipline and order in the Country. The root cause is simple. The two communities are scared that their nefarious agenda of expansionism wont work under Modi. They are watching with alarm the phenomenal growth of Modi. The Modi of 2017 is not the same as the one of the previous two years. He has pulled off the biggest policy decisions which were essentially destruction for reconstruction - Demonetization and GST. And he is mightily confident now.

 

Last year this time, I was worried that Modi was going the A B Vajpayee way by playing right into the Lutyens hands. He had indeed worked hard, tried to organize things but the real action expected of him were missing.

 

I was in a Super Market buying groceries at 7 pm when I got a SMS message from India asking 'Why was the Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes were being demonetized".

 

I was stunned for a moment and forgot to make the payment at the Counter, who was waiting patiently for me to take the purse out.

 

"He wouldn't dare, would he?" was my initial reaction.

 

"Can he pull it off? Did he bite more than he can chew?" was the second.

 

But he did pull it off. Common People were fed up with corruption and black money, and across India they rallied around him. They suffered by having to stand in the queue, but were willing to do so when they saw those who had black money in the neighbourhood like the doctor, real estate broker, the shopwallah, the Government servants and even political parties running for cover trying every trick in the book to somehow convert their ill gotten wealth to white money. Most did not succeed, and their back was broken. Opposition, in cahoots with the vested interests, tried their best to run a misinformation campaign, but people soon saw through their game. 9 months down the line, our tax base has increased, unaccounted black money has been identified, lakhs of tax evaders are in the watch list and the Government is flush with money that will fund its developmental activities. But the biggest advantage is that people are getting the message "It doesn't pay to evade tax or amass black money. You will be caught one day or other".

 

It took Congress 30 years to convert a fairly honest nation to a thoroughly dishonest one. Prior to 1984, people were taking money under the table, but were always ashamed of it. Post Bofors, the Congress Government encouraged people to be dishonest. The reason being that if any person is compromised, he feels guilty and hence he feels he doesn't have the moral right to question the rulers. And you don't have to tell the Congress party how to exploit this. They compromised an entire generation and looted the country. The current generation is so used to tax evasion and black money, they are upset when asked to abide by law.

People are asking "Has Modi achieved the objective of making people honest post demonetization?"

 

Guys! It took Congress and its eco system 30 years to make Indians Corrupt without feeling guilty. And you expect Modi to turn them to honest citizens in 300 days? As you all know it is easy to corrupt someone than convert one to a honest citizen. Give the PM a break, for God's sake!

 

Having weathered the Demonetization disruption which led to a landslide Victory in UP Elections, Modi is a changed man.

 

The UP Election results have more far reaching impact than we think. It destroyed the Opposition, made Nitish Kumar break Mahagatbandhan, ensured Modi got his own men as President and Vice President with ease, and also sent a clear signal to the Regional parties that it pays to be on the right side of Modi than oppose him.

 

It is 45 days since GST was implemented and we haven't heard a peep from anyone. GST is already a fait accompli.

 

When I talk to some of my acquaintances who are, let us say, not too honest, I can sense their resignation and their eagerness to mend their ways. That is half the battle won.

 

Modi and Duval are on a mission to clean up terrorism in Kashmir. Terrorists are being hunted down and killed like the dogs they are. Article 35(A) will be abolished first, and followed hopefully by Article 370. Hurriyat who facilitated terror funding and stone throwing is running for cover. The Kashmir end game is only months away.

 

But this is not enough. We need to see some high profile arrests and convictions of those who have looted the Country - be it Sonia, Vadra, P Chidambaram, his son Karthi, Raja, Lalu or any other politician/businessman.

 

We also would like to see positive initiatives to ensure Hindus get their rights back - be it in managing their temples, establishing Educational Institutions or running their religious activities unhindered. Fake secularism, that has reduced it to minority appeasement, has to go. And it has to go today. Even that is too late.

 

And can we start by changing the name of India to BHARATH or HINDUSTAN?

The Plight of the Educated Fresh Professional Graduates

The Engineering College Seats (as also Medical Seats) were limited in late 80s and early 90s. During 1980s, Kerala had only 6 Engineering Colleges and admission was through merit, expect for 15% reservation of seats in two Private Colleges under Management Quota. You are assured of an Engineering Seat only if you score above 85% in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry in Pre Degree Course (equal to the current +2). The Engineers who passed out of these Colleges were taken in as Graduate Engineer Trainees by Companies, and within an year of Probation, they were at Officer Cadre.

 

I had lot of apprehension when the Self Financing College boom happened in all the States except Kerala in 1990s, and Kerala too followed suit in 2000's as it was its students migrating to other States and wanted a share of the pie for itself.

 

Businessmen and Politicians, who knew nothing about education, made it a Business, and as on date Kerala alone has 167 Engineering Colleges. Tamilnadu has 527 Engineering Colleges, Karnataka 192 and Andhra Pradesh 328 and Telengana 284!. The Total number of students that get admission every  year in Engineering under graduate course is 15.53 lakhs. Hardly anyone fails in Engineering program as every college uses internal assessment to push the students through.

 

That most of these 15 lakhs passing out every year hardly knows anything about Engineering is another matter. I, personally know, couple of fresh engineers who didn't know what I meant when I said 'this is a half inch pipe and hence  you need to buy a half inch foucet to match'. And trust me I am not an Engineer. They didn't even know how to use a spanner.

 

Where do these 15 lakh Engineers find jobs?

 

Frankly, only 7% of these Engineers are employable. And half of them go for IT jobs, irrespective of the stream chosen by them.

 

Less than 5% get jobs that is related to their core specialization.

 

A few go for higher studies, not out of choice, but because they couldn't get any jobs.

 

Many Engineers are not preferred by Manufacturing Companies, because they carry a chip on the shoulder, and expect to be in Officer grade from Day 1. No College counsels them as to the need to start from scratch and fight their way up, as Colleges sell dreams of high Salaries, AC Cabins, Secretary etc. If they talk about reality at the Placement Counseling Sessions, there wont be any takers for their program for the next year.

 

Where do they end up? A few goes back to their family business, if they have one. Most idle searching for the ideal job. A few end up teaching. Many go for Marketing.

 

The Manufacturing Firms, who should be thrilled in taking these Engineers, are not keen because of Automation,the need to reduce cost and to a large extent the poor attitude / unemployability of these Engineers.

 

But they are smart. Having got fed up with labourers, and trade unionism, the Factories are not employing Engineers and Polytechnic pass outs in the Shop Floor and pay them Rs 300 per day, way below the Minimum Wages prescribed. The clause that anyone who has worked for 90 days has to be made permanent is thrown in the wind, as these guys are taken in as Trainees!. And they are promptly dismissed after 12 months.

 

The Average Salary of a fresh Engineer is around Rs 8000 per month with no benefits, except PF and ESI.

 

The same scenario is replicated in the Education Sector. A School Teacher who has done B Ed, has to pay a fortune to get a job in a Private School and is paid pittance.

 

Junior Lawyers don't earn anything for the first 7-8 years.

 

Nurses are revolting in Kerala, because they are paid Rs 6000-7000 per month.

 

The plight of a MBBS doctor is also bad.

 

Frankly, it is not worth to spend 18 years of your life struggling with studies, if you are not paid even minimum wages that an illegal Bangladeshi labourer in India earns!

 

No political party talks about this as these guys don't constitute a vote bank.

 

If India has to be a super power economically, and a manufacturing giant, it has to ensure its human capital has the right skills - both hard and soft, and are paid adequately.

 

The Government should prescribe a minimum wages for various qualification. For example they can start fixing the minimum wages for a Fresh Engineering Graduate at Rs 20,000. And action should be taken against those companies that misuse the trainee system, or those that keep the Certificates as a security or use underskilled persons in a job earmarked for a skilled person.

 

There is an urgent need to cull those Engineering Colleges that are substandard. We just cannot afford to have unskilled Engineers and Doctors working in our midst, as the consequences of their work can be long lasting.

 

With Modi, who stresses on Skill India, bite the bullet.

 

 

 

Cutting Political Opponents to Size

At the end of Kurukshetra war, only a handful of Kauravas were alive. The rest died.

 

Two years ago when Modi and BJP lost both Bihar and Delhi comprehensively, one of my pseudo secular friend was making fun of Modi. At least he was doing it openly, and in person, unlike lots of others, who hide behind silly and malicious forwarded Whatsapp Messages. He was viewing both Nitish and Kejriwal as an alternate to Modi, who was struggling to find his feet in Delhi during the first years of his Prime Ministerial tenure.

 

I allowed him to have his 5 seconds of fun, and gave a chill warning.

 

Never underestimate Modi. He has, in a decade, destroyed all his political opponents in Gujarat. Despite being not part of Delhi politics, he has sidelined his potential threats within BJP for the Prime Ministerial post, be it Advani, Murali Manohar Joshi, Sushma Swaraj or Rajnath Singh. And he has made up his mind to rule India for 10 years, and he will ensure he does.

 

My friend thought I was just being a blind Modi fan, and laughed me off.

 

During the past one year I was wondering why Modi has not taken out his ruthless self, but seemed to be swimming with the tide. He was tolerating too much nonsense. Also I was frankly disappointed at him for not pushing forward the Hindu Agenda.

 

My friend periodically poked fun at me, showing how Modis opponents were about to gang up to dethrone him in 2019.

 

Then they got hit in 2017. In fact the story started in November 2016, when he ensured political opponents were hit at where it hurts most - their ability to raise black money. Demonitization ensured Sonia, Mayawati, Mamta, Akhilesh Yadav, Kejriwal et al were left with limited liquid cash which adversely affected their Election plans.

 

First, he won a landslide victory in UP, and against conventional wisdom, appointed Yogi Adityanath as the CM. This came as a breath of fresh air for the Hindus. A no nonsense Yogi heading the largest State in India, which has become so much anti hindu under SP and BSP. And Yogi promptly got to work efficiently on all fronts and made a bold statement that Ram Temple in Ayodhya is back on track. Maywati is wiped out, and she had to enact a drama on resigning her Rajya Sabha seat to be in relevance (though no one cared) and the Yadav clan was royally split between the Father, Son and the Uncle.

 

Armed now with enough numbers to get his man elected as President and Vice President, Modi chose the quiet, hard working, low profile Ramnath Kovind as Presidential Candidate, whose Dalit credentials threw a spanner in the Grand Alliance plan of Sonia Gandhi and other opposition leaders. Nitish promptly broke ranks, as did Mulayam Singh Yadav - two chief architects of the Mahaghatbandhan. And BJP got votes from opposition members during the election (I wont call it cross voting, as there are no whips in Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections). The election split the Opposition wide open, and the seeds of mistrusts were sown.

 

Prior to that Amit Shah managed to cobble us Ministries in Goa and North East despite coming second in the elections. Goa debacle broke Congress's back.

 

The party troopers lost their morale after the UP, Goa Ministry formation, and the Presidential Election proved Sonia is not in control of Opposition Agenda any more.

 

The sickening defeat Kejriwal faced in Goa (All AAP Candidates lost deposits), and in the bye election in Delhi (Again his candidate lost Deposit in a sitting seat of AAP), and the poor performance in Punjab ensured Kejriwal was on the backfoot. BJP used Kumar Vishwas and Kapil Mishra to further mount pressure on Kejriwal, and the Arun Jaitleys defamation suit ensured he is tied up. AK has lost his face, his credibility and has been reduced to the status of begging to BJP to patch up with Modi. He was rebuffed royally.

 

Next Modi turned his eyes on Bihar, the other sore spot. Lalu Prasad Yadav has too many skeletons in his cup board. CBI and ED were unleashed on him and his children, and they came up with documents incriminating all of them. This gave Nitish the opportunity that he was waiting for, and with the gentle prod of Modi, he quit as CM of Bihar as head of Mahagatbandhan,  and immediately partnered with BJP to form the Government in Bihar. In one stroke, Modi and Amit Shah cut off the root of the Mahaghatbandhan and ensured it will never raise its head again. There is no other credible face to head the opposition in 2019.

 

Now Modi turned his eye on Sonia and her cronies. The defections engineered in Gujarat, with the backing of BJP, by Vaghela, an old friend of Modi, came as a shock to Ahmed Patel, virtually the second in command to Sonia, and the master fixer. Though Congress had 57 MLAs in Gujarat with potential support of 2 NCP MLAs, where they needed only 46 votes for Patel to win, the resignations shook Congress so much that, as this blog goes online, Ahmed Patel will struggle to get through, despite him cocooning his MLAs in Karnataka. Even if he wins, Congress has lost face, and the fact that Congress MLAs were enjoying 5 Star Resort facility while their Constituencies were under flood, will be enough to ensure BJP wins the Assembly Elections. Ahmed Patel was one of the key players who was instrumental in kicking up the Ishrat Jehan case against Modi, and try to implicate him in the past. Modi has a long memory. The other major player in cooking up cases against him is P Chidambaram. The noose is already tightening around the neck of his son Karthi Chidambaram, and it wont be long before PC is also in trouble for his financial mumbo jumbo.
 

This is only the beginning. I am sure at the right time Sonia, P Chidambaram, and even Mamta Banerjee will have to pay for their sins, once Modi turns his eyes on them. And make no mistake, Modi will cut Uddhav Thackeray to size at the right time, once and for all.

NDTV and Prannoy Roy were in the forefront in whipping up an anti Modi campaign in the Media. Now Prannoy is running for cover as he has been asked to pay Rs 900 plus crores as fine by the Appellate Tribunal.

 

By 2018 end, like the Kurukshetra war, only Rahul Gandhi and a couple of others will escape his wrath. For BJP, it pays to have Rahul Gandhi out free. Every time he opens his mouth, BJP is ensured of 1 lakh votes at least.

 

 

 

Welcome to the new era of 24x7 Politics of Modi and Shah

A few months ago, I was annoyed at a Business Associate in India. It was 9 pm in India, and I wanted a quote from him, an informal one. He flippantly told me it was a Saturday evening, and he will get back to me by Monday morning. 

Since I had to meet my commitment to my client, I burned the wires, and got not one but two quotes, including a formal one within the next 3 hours.

When my friend got back to me finally by Monday afternoon, I had already closed the deal, much to his chagrin. 

He was cross at me for not giving him the deal, but he had only himself to blame.

About two decades ago, people sought quotes over normal mail, which were sent through courier, and the Purchase Order would reach the buyer after 21 days of the initial action by the Seller. One had time to take a decision, and afford to take things slowly. 

Those days are gone. You are lucky if you get 21 hours now. I get annoyed when I send a mail or a whatsapp message to a supplier and don’t get a reply within 21 minutes!

We are living in a dynamic world, and if you want to be successful you have to be on the button 24x7, 365 days.

The above anecdote clearly sums up the difference between BJP under Modi and Amit Shah, and Congress under Sonia, Rahul Gandhi.

Congress leaders are made to wait for days to get an audience with Sonia and Rahul, if at all they get a chance. Whereas Modi and Shah move within seconds of sensing an opportunity, working 24x7.

See how they formed a Government in the night in Goa when they didn’t have the numbers. While Digvijay Singh was dilly dallying, waiting for a green signal from Rahul Gandhi, Gadkari took the bull by the horn, stitched up a majority and got Manohar Parricker to resign as Defence Minister in the night, and stake claim to form the Government by early morning. Congress didn’t know what hit them.

Bihar situation, though not exactly similar, also showed the dexterity of Modi and Shah. To everyone it was clear that Nitish Kumar was itching to get out of the Mahagatbhandan for the past 6-8 months. It was critical for Congress to ensure Nitish Kumar was kept in good humor, as without him there was not Mahagatbandhan in 2019.  But Sonia and Rahul slept while the wheels turned (to be precise Rahul was holidaying). 

Modi and Shah were, in the meanwhile, assiduously cultivating Nitish Kumar all the while, and invited him for a dinner late last week and chalked out the exit plan for Nitish. Rahul, instead of going to meet Nitish Kumar with folded hands as he is far too senior to him, summoned Nitish Kumar for a meeting, which itself is cause enough for Nitish to quit the Alliance.

Instead of appreciating Nitish’s difficulty in working with the accused Tejashwi Yadav as Dy CM, Rahul tried to placate him. He failed to understand that it was never about the charge sheet of Tejashwi, but the fact that RJD was quietly planning a coup to get rid of Nitish Kumar, and anoint Tejashwi as CM of Bihar. That would have proved the death knell for Nitish’s political future.

He had been with NDA for a long time, and had no reservations about joining with BJP again, as BJP is a dependable partner, who has only supported him in the past. It was only a miscalculation that led to Nitish leaving BJP, probably blinded by his attachment to LK Advani, who used him to get back at Modi.

It took Sonia and Rahul three hours to even respond to Nitish’s resignation on Wednesday. During that time Modi had tweeted Nitish, BJP MLAs held a meeting, went over to Nitish Kumar’s house for dinner, elected him NDA Leader and he then staked claim to form a Government.

The rest is history.

With this one act, Modi and Shah destroyed the opposition unity and ensured a second term for Modi in 2019.

Welcome to the new era of Politics in India!

P.S: Contrary to what RJD, Congress, CPI(M) and the compromised Media are telling us, the 2015 Bihar verdict was not a Secular vs Communal one, nor was it anti Modi.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections the Vote Share was

NDA - BJP 29.4%, Other NDA 9.4%  Total 38.8%

UPA - RJD  20.1%, Congress 8.4% Total 28.5%

JDU – 15.8%

If you add JDU to UPA, the total vote share was 44.3%

In 2015, post Mahagatbandhan, the Vote Share was,

NDA - BJP 24.4%, Other NDA 9.8%  Total 34.2%

UPA - RJD  18.4%, Congress 6.7%, JDU – 16.8% Total 41.9%

It is clear that it was a question of which two of three, BJP,RJD and JDU join together, and win the election. A question of simple mathematics.

Nothing to do with ideology or secularism or any other stupid things our media guys bleats about. If JDU had joined hands with NDA, they would have probably won with lose to 48% votes plus. In fact RJD and Congress saw their vote shares drop despite Mahagatbandhan. Chew over it.

Nothing in his Head

"Rahul Gandhi convened a meeting of Gujarat Congress leaders post Vaghela exit. When Rahul Gandhi asked about the bearing of Vaghela's exit, Gujarat Congress leaders assured him that his quitting the party will have no effect on the party's performance in the Assembly polls slated for November-December"

They are correct. Of course it will have no effect whatsoever. Does it matter when you get single digit seats in any case?

 

Congressmen must be feeling as hopeless as Federer's opponents these days! They just turn up to get thrashed.

 

 

"Nitish Kumar asks Rahul Gandhi to stop defending ‘tainted’ Lalu Prasad Yadav family, asks to clarify stand on RJD"

 

Nitish has always been an over optimistic guy. He even believed when everyone told him he is Prime Ministerial material! Just imagine what would happen if Rahul stops defending 'tainted' guys! Mind boggling! Starting from his Father, Mother, himself, his Sister, his infamous Brother in Law, P Chidambaram, Ahmed Patel and all the crooks in his party.......the list is endless. Rahul runs away to Europe when faced with a small problem. By asking him to 'Stop defending tained', Nitish is virtually condemning him to 'Escape to Jupiter' at the earliest.

 

"Emperor is naked but nobody has the courage to tell him"- Rahul Gandhi.

Err. Can someone tell me whether I am wearing any dress or not? I cannot feel it - Rahul Gandhi, as an aside.

 

On this topic, the best job in the world is that of Jairam Ramesh, the alleged speech writer of Rahul Gandhi. He can write whatever rubbish he wants, and be sure that Pappu will mouth those inanities without batting an eyelid, and without understanding a word of it.

 

The biggest idiots are the Chinese Embassy guys in Delhi. To imagine the Ambassador of China invited this idiot for a Chinese lunch or dinner to discuss the Doklam standoff is to suspend one's credulity. All that our Pappu knows can be written on the back of a Postage Stamp, and even then you can  have enough space to write the address of his houses in India and Europe.

 

I am reminded of a joke when I think of Rahul Gandhi.

 

25 years ago, we had a loud mouth Operations Manager from Andhra Pradesh in HPCL. He had a head ache and had gone for a head scan. We were all relaxing in the evening, when someone queried about the result of the Scan. The reply was a classic "Oh. The Scan is over. They found nothing in his head"

 

Nice Guys Can/Do Finish First

Only in India can a man from very humble origins hope to rise to the highest position of First Citizen.

 

Only in BJP, under Narendra Modi, can a hard working, honest, clean, low profile politician with no God Father, hope to be chosen to become the President of India.

 

Only in India, the Media will trivialize a person of such honesty, integrity and sincere work ethics to a Dalit symbol, forgetting the fact that he has never used his Dalit privileges in his life, nor does he advocate others from doing so.

 

Only in India, can such a person be ridiculed as a RSS plant, when RSS as a Social Organization has done only sterling work upholding the nationalism and moral values throughout its existence.

 

I, along with majority of my fellow Countryman, am proud to greet Shri Ramnath Kovind as the First Citizen of India - a simple, humble achiever who truly represents millions of Indians.

 

The resounding victory of Ramnath Kovind is a slap on the face for everything that has been wrong with India during the past 70 years - Undue Privileges, Dynasty Politics, Sycophancy,  Land Grab charges, Fake 'Ideology' and a sense of False Superiority - Meira Kumar represented all these.

 

Rarely do a politician get what he or she wished for. Meira Kumar asked all MPs and MLAs to vote as per their 'Conscience', and not as per their Party's decision. She got precisely that. 10% of her supporters across the Country heeded to their Conscience and voted resoundingly 'Against Her'.

 

Bloody heck! At least we are spared of her grating, condescending voice that mouths inanities like 'standing up for Congress Ideology' . We all know what 'Congress Ideology' stands for! A real Chinese Fake Product, if ever there was one. I really wish Modi Government will make the Land and House she has illegally appropriated and make her pay more than Rs 2 Crores of unpaid Rent and Electricity bills.

 

It looks like Pappu Virus has hit Sonia Gandhi. She took the lead in the Presidential Election, even going to the extend of asking her dumb Son to go abroad, and is now left with hundreds of eggs on her face. Instead of bringing all the non BJP politicians under one umbrella, she saw Modi and Shah outwitting her, breaking her ranks and leaving her breathless. Maximum disobedience has come from Congress MPs and MLAs, who refused to vote for the Party Candidate. Congress and Sonia has lost so much credibility that in future no one will take them seriously.

 

We have seen the first crack in Mamatas hold over Bengal MPs, AAP continuing its disintegration, North East solidly behind BJP, AP, Telengana and TN supporting Kovind, and even the tiny Goa where Congress could have had a majority post elections now slipping away from the Party.

 

The decimation of Opposition is complete. And they can't even blame the Electronic Voting Machines for this loss. Maybe Kejriwal, Mayawati, Mamata, Akhilesh et al. will come out with a genius discovery that the special inks used for marking the ballots, would get erased after a while, and the ballot papers are manufactured with special chemicals that 24 hours after the polling, a '1' mark will appear against Ramnath Kovind's name! Anything is possible with a psychopaths like them

As an aside, I understand, the voting process for the President involves the MP or MLA to mark 1 and if required 2 against his First and Second Choices, in a Paper Ballot, with a Pen,  that contains only 2 names. Pray tell me how the hell can an Elected Representative not do the above act properly? Amongst MPs itself 21 votes out of nearly 775 odd were Invalid!!! Add to that 56 MLAs across the country also casted Invalid Votes! Unless it is deliberate, this is ridiculous, to say the least.

With Venkiah Naidu set to become the Vice President early next month, we finally have BJP men at the top 3 positions.

 

The nonsense perpetuated in Rajya Sabha, where opposition still has a majority, with the help of that crook Hamid Ansari, will be a thing of the past. Disruptions will not be tolerated any more.

 

And with Pranab Mukherjee, a die hard Congressman, out of the way, Modi can get many ordinances passed to speed up decision making, and get them ratified by the Parliament later.

 

Whatever else, this Presidential Election proved one thing;

 

"Nice Guys Can/Do Finish First"

 

Few Political Thoughts - 2

Now that Venkaiah Naidu had to resign due to him being nominated as NDA Candidate for the Vice President Election, we have another vacancy in the Central Government Ministry.

 

The Defense Ministry is already without a full time Minister since Manohar Parrikker left to take over as Goa CM, and we have an unfit Minister of External Affairs in Sushma Swaraj. Add to it the incompetent Rajnath Singh as Home Minister and a Jack of All Trades, but master of only Law Arun Jaitley as Finance cum Defense Minister, who is also not fully fit, Narendra Modi has his hands full.

 

One of the oft repeated statements we hear is that BJP lacks talent amongst its MPs and is hence struggling to find suitable people to run the Government.

 

Instead of seeing this as a liability, Modi should view this as an opportunity to implement drastic reforms in the Council of Ministers. India doesn't need 80 Ministers. Minimum Government and Maximum Governance should start from the Top.

 

We need perhaps only the following Ministries;

 

1. The Prime Ministers Office
2. Minister of Finance
3. Minister of National Security inclusive of both External and Internal Security
4. Minister of External Affairs
5. Minister of Administration
6. Minister of Logistics
7. Minister of Industry
8. Minister of Energy
9. Minister of Agriculture
10. Minister of Infrastructure Development
11. Minister of Education

 

Each can have a Cabinet Minister and allowed One Deputy Minister each, which is more to enable the Potentially Talented Deputies to gain experience.

 

With so many Rajya Sabha seats up for grabs in the next few months, it should not be difficult for Modi to find the right candidate from across the Country and get them elected as MPs.

 

All so called heavy weight but useless Ministers can be shifted to do Party work, leaving the task of Governance to a handful of talented Ministers like Piyush Goel, who get things done.

 

Modi is so powerful, and BJP do dependent on him, that he doesn't have to be afraid of the wrath of the disgruntled aspiring MPs, if he were to downsize the Government.

 

He has shown his inclination to take the risk with Demonetization and GST.

 

Will he now dare to reform the Government once and for all?

Few Political Thoughts - 1

It is amusing to note that Congress finds 'Candidates with Stature' only when they have to face elections which they are sure to lose. When they had a chance to have their own President elected during the last two Presidential elections, they opted for perhaps the worst candidate imaginable - Pratibha Patil. Of course they chose Pranab Mukherjee since, but Pranab Mukherjee was not their first or second choice by a long mile. Only when Mamata Bannerjee threatened to put a spoke, and Congress thought they may not be able to get their candidate through, Sonia reluctantly consented to move Pranab Mukherjee upstairs. Even now, Congress and Opposition cannot see beyond people whose claim to fame is their family lineage - Meira Kumar, being the privileged daughter or Jagdivan Ram, and Gopalakrishna Gandhi, the grandson of both Mahatma Gandhi and Rajaji. I wonder whether Gopalakrishna Gandhi, despite his credentials, would have made the cut were his last name is not Gandhi. On the darker side, Meira Kumar has the distinction of bending all the rule books to keep in possession prime property in Delhi without paying rent, while Gopalakrishna Gandhi is a typical pseudo secular, who did not think twice before signing on the petition to have the dreaded terrorist Yakub Memons death penalty annulled. The only solace is that both are not likely to win, and the humble, mild mannered Ramnath Kovind, who is clean as a whistle, and who has come up the hard way will win hands down in tomorrows Presidential Poll.

 

Ramnath Kovind clearly represents what Narendra Modi is looking for in people whom he want to work with - Humble, hard working, good value system, non corrupt, team player. This augurs well for solid performers and is a big jolt for high flying, bad mouthing, corrupt politicians (BJP too has many in the ranks). We have noticed this in his choice of Chief Ministers too. He has cut to size all ambitious high profile politicians, be it Advani, MM Joshi, Yashwant Sinha, Sushma Swaraj, Venkiah Naidu et al.

 

My only worry is Modi's over dependency on Arun Jaitley, and him carrying the baggage like Rajnath Singh and Sushma Swaraj. Rajnath is a disaster as a Home Minister, and despite Sushma Swaraj enjoying considerable PR for her being the help desk of the External Affairs Ministry ( a kind of Agony Aunt for NRIs), she is a bigger disaster as Foreign Minister. While we have to consent that Arun  Jaitley did a good job in getting GST through, earlier Modi gets rid of him the better. Arun Jaitely and Sushma Swaraj represents all that is bad about Delhi Privileged Circle. Maybe Modi needed them when he moved to Delhi three years ago, but am sure he has a grip of the situation now. Modi's objective should be to dismantle the power brokers and the Delhi Durbari Culture, and he is succeeding to a large extent in breaking the nexus between Politicians, Power Brokers and Media.

 

The current crop of BJP MPs lack talent. With a few Rajya Sabha seats up for grabs, this is the right time for Modi to bring in some talent laterally from the Industry or from the non Political Sector.

 

What is for sure is that we need a change in the critical ministries of Finance, Home and External Affairs.

 

Many States are without a full time Governor for months now. And some of the critical States have Governors who are a left over from the Congress era, and whose loyalty lies elsewhere. No way can N N Vohra continue as Jammu and Kashmir Governor. He is also spending more time in Delhi than in Srinagar. With Army determined to wipe out Terrorists (and succeeding immensely) it is only a matter of time before the State is brought under Presidents Rule. PDP is a party not to be trusted, and the J&K Police has to work in tandem with the Army. What is required is a strong Home Minister and a Workaholic and committed Governor. My assessment is that we will see some major decisions taken both in J&K and TN after the Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections.

 

Finally, BJP will have its own guy as VP, and the earlier we get rid of the pest Hamid Ansari, the better. Now the fun begins in Rajya Sabha. Opposition led by Congress will not have it easy with the new VP in the Chair and their obstructionism wont work.

 

My only grouse against Modi is that he hasn't done much for the Hindus. He should not fall into the trap set by pseudo secularists and has to take up the cause of Hindus in earnest. If 80% of the Country of Hindus cant get a fair deal from Modi , where else will they get from. To start with, he can release the Hindu Temples from Government Control, followed by giving Hindu Schools the same status as other Minority run Institutions. Also severe restrictions should be put on Minority run Educational Institutions. They have misused the freedom given to them in a big way. The next is to ban all religious conversions. In a country like India, it is difficult to get a divorce for a Hindu, as it takes a couple of years at least, but it is extremely easy for him to covert to another religion - it takes only seconds. People should be allowed to convert only after a long drawn process involving multiple stages............... to be contd....