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....

 

The sky hasn't fallen yet, right?

The year was 1979. I had recently turned 15, just finished my Schooling (Those days Schools were only upto 10th Standard. You go to the College for the two year Pre Degree Course which is equal to the 11th and 12th) and had a vacation lasting nearly 3 months. Apart from attending the District Level Cricket Coaching Camp, there was nothing else to do other than read during the hot summer days.

 

I found my father reading Exodus by Leon Uris, a fat novel of more than 600 pages. An avid reader myself who was satisfied reading solid Malayalam Novels, English Comics, Enid Blyton, Biggles etc., I asked my father about Exodus.

 

"I am not sure you are old enough to read or understand Exodus, but I feel it is high time you start getting exposed to more serious novels, and this book shall provide a good exposure to the outside world for you". he replied.

 

I knew a bit about Israel and got involved in the book from day one. The story of the birth of Israel, their early struggles, their fighting spirit to succeed against all odds, the quest of the Jews to return to their native land for hundreds of  years inspired me no end. The protagonist Ari Ben Canan was a hero for me, as were his father Barak Ben Canan and even Akiva, who led the Maccabees and a complete antithesis to his brother Barak. I felt sad when I read India did not support the creation of Israel at the UN and couldn't understand why. I understood the incompetence and hypocracy of Nehru and Congress much later.

 

I must have read that book many times during the next 10-15 years and never ceased to amaze at the resourcefulness of the Israelis.

 

A couple of years later, I read a small book '90 Minutes at Entebbe' by William Stevenson, a book about the strategy and operations behind the one of the most heroic rescue operations in history. An exciting read on espionage and counter-terrorism, about how Israel's crack team rescued the passengers from the Hijacked Air France 139 Flight, at Entebbe Airport, Uganda, which was ruled by Idi Amin, who was supportive of the Hijackers and admired at their tenacity. Israel lost one soldier in that mission - Lt.Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, whose brother is the current Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu.

 

Thereafter I read a lot on Jewish Holocaust and the horrors, and how Israel hunted down every single perpetrators of the Holocaust much after WW II.

 

My Brother in Law who was working in Middle East made a visit to Israel, and gave me first hand information about the people and the country, which only reinforced my views about Israel.

 

As a young Management Graduate in late 1980s, I was keen on starting a Dairy Farm (30 years down the line, I still am) and always wanted to be an agriculturalist (still do). The amazing development Israel has made in these two fields have been followed by me over the years, and I have always wondered why Indians couldn't do what a small country like Israel do.

 

Maybe it has to do with understanding the value of their freedom, how much they cherish their country, their patriotism and their unending fight for survival despite being shunned by more than half the world.

 

They are not perfect, and at times their strong arm tactics are questionable. But being at the receiving end of cross border terrorism, as an Indian, I do feel that only their language of strength works. The passiveness of Indians have been taken for granted.

 

The vote bank politics, cowardice of the Congress Governments of the past meant we kept Israel at arms length, while supporting Palestine, who have always sided with our enemy. This was baffling to say the least. We did improve our relationship with Israel steadily over the years, but it was always on the sly, akin to a married man visiting his girl friend clandestinely during the night. And we missed no opportunity to vote against Israel at every opportunity at UN.

 

Israel has much to offer in many fields like Agriculture, Dairying, Defense. It is a great pity that it took a Prime Minister of India 70 years to visit an all weather friend, who has stood by us despite being insulted.

 

The warmth in the relationship, the welcome accorded to our PM during his visit to Israel should be an eye opener to all of us.

 

The scare mongers in the country shouted from roof tops all these years that India will be isolated if we have a robust relationship with Israel and Indian Muslims will be offended. Or in short the sky will fall on our heads -as the Guals fear in Asterix Comics.

 

Well, Modi has visited, laid the foundation for an excellent bi lateral relationship, and has invited Benjamin Netanyahu to India.

 

The sky hasn't fallen yet, right?

Finally, We have a Government that has taken the tough decision to Divest Air India. This was loooooooooooong overdue. Government has no business in running Airlines, and the only reasons why they do is for Politicians and Bureaucrats to wield their power, and of course to get fat commissions from Aircraft purchases. If you have doubt, just ask Praful Patel, the Civil Aviation Minister during UPA!

 

This post is not about Air India divestment though. This just triggered a thought process as to other things/persons we need to divest immediately.

 

Let us start with some Constitutional Authorities. Will Modi bite the bullet and divest the President, Vice President and all the Governors please, on priority? India bears a huge cost for maintaining them and they frankly serve only a ceremonial purpose. We are maturing as a democracy and there is no place for dignitaries like President, VP and Governors.

 

Next in the line to divest are the Rajya Sabha, and all the Upper Houses (MLCs) of States wherever they exist. These were established similar to House of Lords in England, and was supposed to have matured individuals who shall provide the necessary guidance to the Loksabha MPs and Assembly MLAs but have become a den of unelectable politicians, goons, businessmen and rogues. And they are not accountable to the people directly but have the Veto right on decisions taken by People Elected Loksabha or Assemblies.

 

Can we also Divest most of the Ministers? Do we really need 80 Ministers to rule a country like India. There is too much interference in the running

 

We also need to divest Delhi of its Capital Status. It is a relic of the Mughal empire and has no advantage for being the Capital City. Government is spending thousands of crores on developing Smart Cities, and it should seriously look at building a brand new Capital City somewhere in the middle of India in Madhya Pradesh or Maharashtra, which is equi distant from all parts of India. At least it will get rid of the vested interests of the Lutyens, and for at least a couple of decades, till new power centres start coming up, it will be free of shady movers and shakers, who are undesirable.