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?