Why Should BJP Declare its PM Candidate

“Will VHP endorse Narendra Modi for PM’s post at Kumbh?” This is a prominent headline in Hindustan Times today. Same is the case with all prominent news media, be it the newspapers or the TV news channels. All are busy focusing on Narendra Modi and speculating on whether he will be declared as BJP’s or NDA’s Prime Ministerial Candidate during the ongoing Kumbh Mela. And a lot of hype has been built around it. The suspicious part is that this whole “campaign” is media devised!
 

The timing of the campaign is much revealing. The campaign was started around the time Rahul Gandhi was declared Vice President of Indian National Congress (popularly called Congress Party) and the news became butt of a joke with people from all quarters ridiculing him and his credentials. Congress Party became uncomfortable, especially with the popular sentiment at the social networking sites and designed its own counter-propaganda initiatives to correct the poor image of Nehru/Gandhi dynasty scion. But the party could not find answer to the one question which was underlying everything, “Does Rahul Gandhi has it in him to become PM some day?” It was from this question, that a need arose to “divert” public attention away from the PM Candidate of Congress Party. Making the focus being diverted to BJP/NDA was a very logical choice. The fact that there were multiple contenders of the post from within BJP/NDA, gave it its much desired leverage.
 

Any discussion to declare Narendra Modi as PM’s candidate would certainly ruffle feathers of a lot of other contenders from within the BJP/NDA. And this media-fed campaign did produce the dividends for Congress Party. Internal fissures within NDA came to the forefront. JDU’s shrewd politician Nitish Kumar was encouraged to further his anti-Modi stance to win some more Muslim voters. BJP came out strongly in favor of Narendra Modi to silence Nitish somehow. Next, NDA’s key ally and an opposite pole of minority-politics player JDU, Shiv Sena came out in the support of Sushma Swaraj. News channels found it easier to keep stretching this campaign for Narendra Modi because of Kumb Mela. Modi’s recent visit to a college in New Delhi (SRCC) to address students was hyped by the media as if it was address to the nation of a future Prime Minister. Everything is falling in the line of what Congress wants!
 

Because of multiple contenders for PM’s role, if BJP/NDA wins the next general elections, it is logically in the best interests of the party to not declare its PM Candidate in advance. Its focus should be on the wrong-doings of the Congress led UPA government’s misdeeds and failures and it should come out as “one team” against the incumbent. Therefore any discussion on “Who should BJP declare its PM Candidate?” is counterproductive to BJP/NDA’s interests. But logically what is wrong for the BJP is good for the Congress Party and using its network and leveraging its power position, the Congress Party is trying to keep the national attention on BJP’s candidate instead of its own!
 

Now the biggest question is: Will the Indian Public look through this design or will they be fooled by the Media barons?

India Against Corruption (IAC) Vs Aam Aadmi's Party (AAP)

Finally, Arvind Kejriwal and team have thought of a name to their political outfit. It has been named "Aam Aadmi Party" (or Common Man's Party). Here are my thoughts on this development:

In a way I am happy that we did not repeat a historical event (mistake in the opinion of many). Indian National Congress (INC) was by and large a political organization to unite and channelize nationalists efforts to ensure freedom of India from the British. When India achieved independence in 1947, many proposed that this party should be dissolved and a new party with a new name may be floated which can take part in the democratic process of a living democracy of post-independent Bharat. But somehow this did not happen and we still have a political party in the same name of Indian National Congress (INC) whose several members have been accused of numerous large scale corruption charges and scandals. In a way it pains us to see the name of Congress party which is inseparable from our freedom struggle and with Mahatma Gandhi, to be regressed and defamed in this manner. The good thing with Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement called India Against Corruption is that it has not allowed its name being used to start a political party separate from its own agenda.

India Against Corruption (IAC) was by and large an organization identified with two things: (1) To demand Jan Lokpal Bill from the government, (2) A social movement against corruption in government and government organizations. Also, IAC has been identified with social activist Anna Hazare and other leaders like Kiran Bedi also played important part in it. By the time it accepted failure in securing Jan Lokpal Bill, Arvind Kejriwal almost individually eclipsed it. The IAC Brand was gradually shifting from being identified by hugely popular, and "saint like" Anna Hazare, towards sharp, retorting, reactive and "aggressive" Arvind Kejriwal. The brand transition happened with every passing day and increased at mammoth pace ever since Arvind Kejriwal started his own political party. Some even felt that whole people's movement started by IAC has been "abducted" by him. I salute Anna Hazare's leadership, clear vision and boldness to demand that Kejriwal should stop using IAC's name and brand, given that their ways have gone the separate ways. Therefore, it is satisfying for people like me to see that Arvind Kejriwal has announced a new name for the political party - Aam Aadmi Party. (Though I still see much harm and dilution done to IAC's brand due to being used by Kejriwal's political outfit so far.)

I was surprised at this name "Aam Aadmi Party" and initially I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw news about it on TV. The term "Aam Aadmi" has been used extensively by INC (Congress Party) during all these years and it looked like it was an attempt by Kejriwal & team to make a dig at it while using the term for their own political party's name. Now every time Congress leaders will call us "Aam aadmi", they will in a way take their rival's name. But I was in a way disappointed by Kejriwal & team. Choosing this name indicates their lack of vision and imagination. Could not they have named their party more 'appropriately' for better presentation and matching its vision? In a way, this over-zealousness to "steal" Congress party of its oft used term "Aam aadmi", Kejriwal & team became victims themselves of their negative politics. If you keep thinking about your rival or keep hating someone, gradually you become used by your own hatred. It appears to be a huge opportunity lost by Kejriwal & team to not being able to show some courage and imagination in naming their political party. If IAC and Anna Hazare's successes were also marketing case studies, then this name 'Aam Aadmi Party' comes as their poor cousin. 

The name "Aam Aadmi Party" is 2/3 Hindi and 1/3 English; perhaps ironically just like Kejriwal's politics is 2/3 "anti" things and only 1/3 as "pro" other things. It is typical of upstarts lacking vision in basing politics on the "anti" or the negative plank - it takes you only to an extent. I was also surprised how Kejriwal had the courage to accept this negative politics in naming his party openly in front of us. He made the following comment as published in today's TOI:

"Cong could never hijack the aam admi despite using the term 'aam admi'. Now they have lost the word too." - Arvind Kejriwal.

First, if his "hijacking" means making people of this country believe in the party and its vision, then Congress party did it successfully! The party is still in power and has enjoyed power for all these years. If Kejriwal thinks that the party "could never hijack" aam admi, then why did the aam admi elected Congress to remain in power for all these years? Obviously, Kejrwal sees things differently, which can be called hallucinating perhaps at times. 

This politics of "hijack" has weird dimensions. Hindustan Times has this article titled "Arvind Kejriwal ‘hijacks’ Cong’s aam aadmi". It is widely seem that Kejriwal "hijacked" the term "aam aadmi" from Congress party either to enjoy making fun of them (as can be seen in the comments from Digvijay Singh and Manish Tewari), or it was named like this because Kejriwal and team could not think of any better name. On any account, it looks like a huge opportunity loss. 

For the man who was accused of "hijacking" Anna Hazare's social movement for his own political agenda to hijack IAC to start a political party, it is ironical to see him boasting that he has "hijacked" the term Congress party used so many times. 

Anyways, I am happy that finally India Against Corruption (IAC) brand is free from being used by Kejriwal and his team for their political party. We had lost the moment once when we allowed Indian National Congress (INC) brand being used in the post-independence era, and glad that this time there was a man who did not allow history to be repeated for the wrong - Anna Hazare. 

- Rahul

Note: Views are personal and do not represent views of any organization associated with the author. [Detailed disclaimer]

What India thinks of Kejriwal

Ever since Arvind Kejriwal took the controversial decision to turn into a politician and start a new political party (which will subsequently fight all Lok Sabha seats after making a beginning with Delhi Assembly elections), he seems to have lost much of his fan base. Though it is also controversial to say that even before joining politics he enjoyed so much fan following personally, because most of his fans of today are basically followers and admirers of Anna Hazare who had to stop his non-political social movement against corruption because of unknown reasons. Many people blame Mr. Kejriwal's political ambitions for breaking up and failure of Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement also. No matter what, it is certain that after joining politics, Kejriwal has lost many admirers. 

Let us see what India's best achievers, leaders of their fields who are looked up to by young Indians, are speaking about M. Kejriwal and his "brand" of politics: 

Deepak Parikh, Chairman of HDFC Bank

Deepak Parikh said, "I think the manner in which he (Kejriwal) is going about is not right. When asked whether he would help Kejriwal if he seeks his advice on economic policy matters, Parekh said he will never do so and would never vote for his candidates as he does not approve of the way he is going about with his plans. Parekh also slammed the media for incessant coverage of Kejriwal & Co. and asked it to report other important issues. "I would like to blame you, the media...you have nothing else to report other than Kejriwal. Why do you give so much of importance to all this? Give us some news, don't tell us what Kejriwal said," Parekh said. [Ref1], [Ref2], [Ref3]

Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and former CEO and MD of Infosys

Nandan Nilekani said that he does not believe Arvind Kejriwal‘s style of fighting against corruption is good for India and especially slammed Kejriwal for focusing his campaign on grabbing TV talktime and eyeballs. He said, “The notion (that) you can bring corruption by having bunch of OB vans, I think that’s not going to solve the problem.”There is a lack of appreciation of the long term institutional and systematic changes required to get to the desired goals, he added. “I’m as much for fighting corruption as the next guy. But, I certainly don’t believe that by passing a law or putting more penalties on bureaucrats or creating more inspectors is going to solve the corruption problem. That’s absolutely the wrong prescription,” he said. [Ref1], [Ref2]

NR Narayana Murthy, founder and ex-CEO of Infosys

NR Narayana Murthy has revealed that he had spurned a request last month from Arvind Kejriwal, the activist-turned-politician, to fund his political activities. "Mr Kejriwal approached me in September 2012 asking for financial assistance, I declined. I have not financially supported Mr Kejriwal's political activities," Murthy said. "Mr Arvind Kejriwal approached me in 2008 to donate money to raise awareness about the RTI Act by instituting awards to recognise the contribution of public information officers, public information commissioners, NGOs and citizens. I agreed to give Rs 25 lakh a year for five years and requested Tatas to contribute an equal sum, which Tata Social Welfare Trust was kind enough to agree," the statement said. In all, the Infosys founder contributed over Rs 1 crore between 2008 and 2011 for RTI related work. [Ref1], [Ref2], [Ref3]

Javed Akhtar, veteran poet, lyricist and scriptwriter

Javed Akhtar hit out Kejriwal hard during the event Agenda Aaj Tak 2012, accusing him of being like a journalist, pointing out problems but with no solutions. [Ref1], [Ref2]. Javed Akhtar wondered if Arvind Kejriwal's dislike and non-belief was in a particular set of politicians or all politicians and accused him of not believing in the system including India's constitution and the parliament. He said that he would believe what BJP or Congress leaders say because they have been elected by the people of India, but Arvind Kejriwal has self proclaimed to be people's voice and uses undemocratic means to demand what he believes is good for India. At the near end of his speech, Javed Akhtar challenged Arvind Kejriwal, asking him to visit Pakistan once and when he would return to India, he would love our nation. 

Note: Views are personal and do not reflect views of any person or organization associated with the author. 

Origin of Urdu Language

Here is a learned article on the subject which sums up the origin and evolution of Urdu very well.

Ameera Kamal is a research writer based in Islamabad. She holds a Masters degree in Anthropology from Quaid-e-Azam University, Pakistan.

Urdu – The Origin and History of the Language

By Ameera Kamal

http://ezinearticles.com/?Urdu—The…age&id=2181915

I am writing a summary of the article, in my own words, but definitely taking facts from her article:

The article stars with defining the term “Urdu” – it derives from a Turkish word “ordu” meaning camp or army. Urdu developed amongst Muslim soldiers of the Mughals (Mughal Empire was established by Muhammad Babur who invaded India (Hindustan) because of its riches and wealth). Mughal armies belonged to various ethnicities, e.g. Turks, Arabs, Persians, Pathans, Balochis, Rajputs, Afghans, etc. Present day Urdu evolved with the different dialects these soldiers used to communicate with each other. Because of this reason Urdu is also called “Lashkari Zaban” or “language of the army”.

The author says that during its development Urdu language also assumed various names like “Urdu-e-Maullah” (the exalted army) and the term “Rekhta” (scattered (with Persian words)).

The article says that the history of a language is definitely linked to the history of the people speaking it. Urdu emerged as a “distinct language” after the year 1193 – the time of Muslims conquest. When the Muslims conquered these lands, they made Persian the official and “cultural language” of India. Ameera Kamal writes:

“as a result of the amalgamation of local dialects and the language of the invaders – which was either Persian, Arabic and Turkish, a new language evolved which later became Urdu.”

In the later part, the article says that “with the coming of the British, new English words also became part of the Urdu language. Many English words were accepted in their real form while others were accepted after some modifications. Currently, the Urdu vocabulary contains approximately 70% of Persian words and the rest are a mixture of Arabic and Turkish words.”

Do read her full article. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2181915

Some more expert opinion on this issue for everyone’s reference:

“The birth of Urdu language was the direct result of the synthesis between the invading armies of Mahmud of Ghazni with the civilian population of the Indian cities. The word Urdu itself means Lashkar, derived from the Turkish language meaning armies.”

The Essentials of Indian Culture by K.K.Khullar, Employment News, New Delhi, 21-27 Jan. 1995, p.1

“Urdu was thus self-evidently the language of the soldiers of the armies of Mahmud-e-Ghazni, the only militarist sovereign of the era who maintained a large enough army for a considerable period to provide sufficient time for a new language to develop. It is for this same reason that the earliest surviving Urdu literature is that of Sufi saints who accompanied the Ghaznavids during their expeditions.”

Language of the armies, Urdu, by Dr. Samar Abbas, June 11, 2002 http://www.iranchamber.com/literatur…_of_armies.php

“The old Urdu was a mixture of Turkish, Persian and Arabic and was the language of the most powerful warrior tribes of Central Asia. These tribes would invade, conquer and occupy areas within easy reach for their wealth, gold, silver and precious stones. Wherever these tribes went, they took their language which had an amazing mingling and absorbing local words and proverbs.“

A Brief History of Urdu; http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other…/history.shtml

“the impact of Islām created a new language, Urdu (from Persian: Camp), based on Hindi; Urdu was the lingua franca of the army. Urdu was used later for literature and at present is the mother tongue of most Indian Muslims and their brethren”

Encyclopedia Britannica: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/…ture#ref532147

Arvind Kejriwal's Contribution to India

My original comment/post (13 Oct 2012):

Arvind Kejriwal is the Julian Assange of India. IAC is now Indian WikiLeaks. Perhaps the only difference between the two is that while Julian Assange worked on all days of the week, Arvind ji works only over the weekends :)

Friend: What we see over the weekend, is the result of what he does over the week. I am big fan of his, I think he is exactly what India needs now.

Me: Or the result of what others choose to send him... of course he doesn't go visit all govt offices to collect evidences... he himself says, "logon ne bheja hai"... anyways, I like him and most of his exposures but what I don;t like about him is his dramatics - he acts as if sky is going to fall down if we don't come out on the streets to support him... and he will decide what is right and what is wrong for us... he fails to see good things in our democracy.. I don't remember hearing anything "positive" from his mouth in the recent years... also, he doesn't have a sense of humor; does he ever smile? He acts like a "heart broken" jilted lover. Anyways, I am not judging him but only sharing observations... for what he will turn out to be, we can only wait and watch...

Friend: No you should see Hum log's last edition on NDTV, I really loved his simplistic charms , he smiles all the time even when people are asking him tough questions. I loved the way he responded to all those questions. Every politician/activist exhorts to enrage public, Jai Prakash Narayan used Ramdhari Singh Dinkar's poem to exhort people. See he has to rabble rouse or we the middle class of India, who suffer from amnesia so frequently, would forget him. I think if you think deeply he is trying to present a practical use case of the anti graft law he has been fighting for. Look at the present situation, Do you think Salman Khurisd, who presides over the CBI's prosecution wing would allow a fair investigation against himself? Isn't it a farce? So clearly by raising all these issues, he is making mango people like me and you, discuss on these things, and question the black box of governance. I really love the way Yogendra Yadav puts it in his article, winning is never in garnering votes, but actually changing the rules of the game , and Arvind Kejriwal has done that with his plain speak and by calling a spade a spade.

Me: ok.. Whereever i watched and heard him, he was in a monotone.. in india today conclave from the podium, he spoke in the same tone... i dislike the way he accuses media, saying, "aap media wale..." he speaks the language of politicians when it comes to matters involving IAC.. i had read yogendra yadav's article but he is inside arvind's political party... also i think we cant say yet that they have changed the rules of the game, have they? What they are doing, exactly that was done by Tahelka many years back... I would support Tahelka more than IAC because those guys didn’t want power and didnt have political agenda... I think arvind ji is doing nothing new, and so far he is surviving by sheer guts... politics is not about winning a bravery award...

Friend: I keep highest regards for the likes of people like Tarun Tejpal, Shoma Chaudhary and Ashish Khetan, the person who nailed Babu Bajrangi and the Naroda Patia bast**ds I absolutely love them, they have actually done a great disservice to this nation by not joining politics, and as far as being brave is concerned, its important to fight first, and that's what Arvind is doing. I also did not like his speech in India Today conclave, but still it was many times better than the politically correct Sandeep Dixits's hogwash who spoke next. If you remeber there was a question in the end, by a reporter ki Arvind Kejriwal ko itna gussa kyuan aata hai, and he simply said ki mujhe itna gussa nahin aata hai. Media has been more interested in Arvind, Anna, Kiran, and never chases their ideas, the discussion are more on their antics than what they want, he is surviving because he enjoys tacit support among the thinking middle class. They have ofcourse changed things with common man getting more vociferous in his demands for probity, Will their ideas see light of the day is yet to be seen, but still they are promising a better tomorrow aint?

Me: yes, i agree with you in general on this.. just one advice - love their work but not the doers... similar to what gandhiji said, hate the wrong deeds not the doers... in this world we never know how people and things will change... only thing constant should be our faith in good and honest work... those who are good and honest today, may change colors tomorrow.. so we should like their work but not become fans of them personally...

Friend: http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/D4kKOlMO0rNimKhUFNqWIJ/Choosing-targets-Kejriwal-has-great-taste.html

Me: Well, all said and done, Jan Lokpal Bill failed, didn't it? Despite all his brilliance and all his supporters! So when he couldn't destroy system, he has started to destroy people now... When this will fail, I don't know what will be his target and ever-changing course of action... At least with Jan Lokpal, his demand was "for" something... Now his demands are "against" some people... Anyways, let us wait and watch...

Friend: Was getting jan lokpal bill passed only his duty? We are seeing an ideal case of conflict of interest here, when Salman Khurisd has to sit over an enquiry against himself. Which system is he destroying, he is just destroying notions? Do you think the current parliament represents India, which should have been a microcosm of the Indian society? What kind of people is he targeting? He did not target any one of very high integrity; he has targeted some people who no body had dared to touch. As Obama some time back if you cant stand heat, get out of kitchen. I am just waiting when he will fire his salvo on Gadkari, the man who destroyed BJP as a credible alternative.

Me: Jan Lokpal was his and his team's baby and hence of course it was his team's failure that it couldn't get it passed by creating pressure on govt through public protests. Secondly, now something very interesting comes to my mind. Even Lokpal was not truly his idea. Lokpal bill is pending for many decades as we know. Here enters Arvind Kejriwal and Team Anna, they do re-branding of Lokpal as Jan-Lokpal and declare themselves as visionaries! Does Arvind ji has even a single genuine idea of his own? After copying Lokpal into Jan Lokpal which failed, he has copied the Tahelka now (or WikiLeaks as I said) and has become the revelation man... I got his book "Swaraj" whose title is copied from Gandhi ji's "Hind Swaraj". Even his trademark Topi is basically Gandhi Topi but rebranded by writing something over it. Have you ever thought about it? The man looks like a "swing master"... I have not fallen in his trap..

Friend: (comment missing - perhaps he deleted afterwards - but here he accepts that even Arvind ji didn't do pioneer work in RTI yet he took some credit and cited many other cases where Arvind Kejriwal didn't start the concept but only took someone else's work forward. But Friend justifies that copying doesn't matter.)

If you say no one has a new idea, in order to justify Arvind copying things, using them after rebranding, for his own political agenda, then it is jot right.. Nothing wrong in being copy cats, but we should know that he has "nothing new to offer", that was my point... you agreed with it, that is good.. so he is trying what has been tried, tested and failed before... how is he "game changer" then? by shouting loudest?

Friend: (comment missing - perhaps he deleted afterwards - but pointed out how Kejriwal exposed Vadra)

Me: Everyone knew Pulkit, that Vadra was not honest. Even now after all the allegations he will never go to jail. So ultimately the scandal and all the proofs won't mean anything in hard factual terms, or may be will be like a whiff of wind for the Family. Compare that with Bofors, or with Tahelka and you will realize the difference in scale and impact. Also, debating over TV is one thing, and going to the court to make "a difference" is something other. In this area, compare his approach with that of Subramanyam Swami, and then you will realize the difference in real terms on the ground. For using social media, even Mamata Banerjee uses it; Sashi Tharoor used it; and who doesn't use it tell me. If you believe no party will field corrupt candidates, then you should refresh with the fact that Kalmadi and Raja have been restored with VIP status - are back on parliamentary boards! What does all this mean?

---

Afterthoughts: Despite all the verbal allegations and hype generated by Arvind Kejriwal and his team, the fact of the matter is that he will only help INC (Cong.) win the elections. Because no matter what he tries, Kejriwal and team will end up dividing the opposition votes, thereby helping none other than the current govt. against which he campaigns.

Recently a lot of allegations of corruptions have been made on Kejriwal's team members; some of those are of serious financial frauds. But they have chosen to say "no answers" to those. In politics, as in real life, there are no good and bad people. There are good and bad actions, decisions and attitudes. If either of Digvijay Singh or Kejriwal or even our PM choose to counter allegations made on them with "silence" or plain faced "denial", I count all of their actions as an "equalizer". With recent allegations against Kejriwal's team, and their attempts to run away from those, media has already exposed them. It is good for our nation that unqualified juvenile upstarts are differentiated. It will allow genuine and serious civil protests, true agitations, social reformers without political agenda and even serious political parties to remain in the fray and get our attention they deserve. Ultimately, our Nation matters to us more than any Surname or Banner.

Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal and do not represent those of any organization associated with the author. You are welcome to share your opinion in the comment section.