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....
