Uttarakhand Relief Work and Criticism of Govt’s slow response

The very unfortunate natural disaster in Uttarakhand deserved swift and effective rescue operation. Government did act, but many of us thought this response was not enough. On day 2 or 3 I read a newspaper report which said 45 helicopters were employed. I was shocked! Only 45 helicopters! Then there was an advertisement by Prime Minister with his picture, asking citizens to “generously” donate to PM’s relief fund. Does our govt. really lack financial resources? No one believed that.
 

There was huge debate and criticism of government on the social networking sites. Someone said that we should not criticize because it does no good and we should contribute to PM’s relief fund instead. He said that our criticism is bad. I said the following to him:
 

Well, we all know that government does deserve some criticism. And we also know that often politicians care to act only when there is some criticism, otherwise they live in their comfort zones. So I don’t think criticism is unwarranted in this case also. But at the same time we should help, as rightly pointed out by you. But again, we know this corrupt government does not lack financial resources. All it lacks is some heart. So we should help NGOs who do the real work.

AAP getting black money funding?

So AAP can’t verify the IDs of online fund campaign [Link]. Obviously, for the party it does not matter where the money is coming from, even black and blood money are welcome, and all that matters is that all the money is getting into party’s or Kejriwal’s bank accounts! Is it a far cry from the party which claimed to be 100% honest or is it that it has recently indulged in such money making schemes? Is the idea to collect as much funds as possible before elections come, and go underground afterwards, just like crooked chit-funds do? I think this monetary affair is nothing new for Kejriwal and team who had requested Narayan Murthy of Infosys a permission to use funds collected for Lokpal cause for its political funding (and Murthy refused of course). Such controversies are also not new because not all people have forgotten how Kejriwal and his team went underground for weeks and months after announcing a joke called “internal Lokpal” to probe into charges of monetary irregularities against its own members. No one heard what happened to the so called “Internal Lokpal” and no one heard if the culprits were ever brought to books? But the known facts in public domain say that the accused were promoted or encouraged and are still holding big positions in the party! Perhaps hypocrisy is nothing new for politicians and this scandal is only a proof that AAP is just another political party and Kejriwal is just another politician. Now the key question is: will the young generation understand all this or will it continue to gather forces behind Kejriwal and hence help Congress party win elections by dividing opposition votes?

Advani’s Resignation and controversy

After LK Advani resigned, many people accused him of havig a big ego and creating a mess and harming his party’s interests. They also ridiculed him for his old age.
 

I think Mr. Advani’s age does not matter because he is physically fit; perhaps more fit than some of the fat and obese leaders from all political parties.
 

I think it is true that Mr. Advani has had his chance at PM’s post last time and this time around BJP should throw up a new face. But BJP should have done the succession planning some years ago rather than at last moment now. I think it is in BJP’s favour if no candidate is declared PM’s hopeful so that the party can remain united and BJP should decide on PM’s post after winning election. But as it appears from the media report, it is Modi Camp which is forcing the party to declare one name which has caused all these heart burns. So I think it is not Advani who is to be blamed for this mess, but it is Modi Camp which is to be blamed for it. But alas, all such blames would be counterproductive. BJP should get out of this mess as soon as possible and put up a united front. It needs better PR and desperately.

Nitish Kumar Betrays Biharis and Quits NDA

An uncompromising trait of all great leaders is that Great Leaders always put their people before their own personal goals. Today Nitish Kumar has betrayed the faith of people from his state by quitting NDA. Some say it is for Muslim votes, some say it is on directions of foreign powers who funded him, some say it is in deal with Congress, some say it is due to his personal ego and competition with Narendra Modi. Whatever the reason behind it, he has put himself ahead of his people and this is betrayal.

Media’s Excessive Coverage of Particular Topics

It seems if BJP’s national ex. meet happened a few weeks earlier, IPL would have remained corruption-free. Media has become a Jinnie which is easy to invoke but difficult to control. I have been gradually unsubscribing TV news channels from TataSky; from 5-6 some months back to only 2 now. It makes perfect sense for media to have this kind of business model where only one news item is hyped ignoring others. It does cost cutting and they could even do with notes sent by opponent parties as journalistic news. They should even charge money from politicians for appearing in ‘center stage’ and ‘news hour’ type of programs because in the past some politicians have started from there to become Ministers today. With such TV News channels ready for anything, there is less incentive for political parties to start their own TV channels as was the trend once. I am taking more movie and music channels. In movies at least we know for sure that stories and characters are fictitious!

Alla in our Films

The way our films have become, now I fear when and at what point they will start chanting Alla’s praise out of the blue. Hero is chasing heroine amidst forests and bushes and we shall hear some praise for Khudaaaa… Hero and heroine are alternately running in some deserts and Antarctica, and we shall hear a song in the praise of Alla… Latest is when a Sikh lead gets a gesture from his lady love and starts doing Bhangra, and guess what the musical note is? Alafff alla! Bollywood had never been so irrelevantly religious.

Congress to Buy Minority Votes

“Worried about losing religious minority (mainly Muslim and Christian) votes, the UPA has identified 70 ‘minority concentrated’ blocks and 66 towns all over the country to launch a special development scheme. The Union cabinet on Tuesday approved Rs 1250 Crores to be spent over the next 9 months…” reports DNA newspaper on its front page, dated 06/06/2013.
 

There is a good reason to keep a position that this scheme is same as “cash for votes”. Just look at its timing. This scheme is not some long-term development or improvement scheme, but it is a quickie – it ends in 9 months with a big bang effect. No need to guess what is the big bang event – when General Elections are round the corner.
 

Secondly, just look at its spread. Just anyone and everyone is not eligible to become rich by this scheme, but such areas are basically pockets. Do some strategic arithmetic to find out which are the Muslim dominated areas, where last time decision was made with small margin, meaning such benefits and cash for votes schemes are what a doctor would write on prescription!
 

It is shameful the manner in which our oldest political party Indian National Congress has digressed and blemished the name of our freedom fighters. I think certainly no self-respecting man or woman can ever vote for this corrupt party.