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?

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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. 

Robert Vadra Jeejaji Scam

While it is difficult to say for sure if Jeejaji Scam is true or not and perhaps no one will come to know because the govt will perhaps never do an honest probe in the scam, some facts speak for them. What is mentioned below came in yesterday’s Times of India on the front page:
 

The allegations in the Robert Vadra Scam:
 

1. 5 companies owned by Robert Vadra and his mother Maureen Vadra bought 31 properties in 2007-10 (during the Congress led UPA rule).
 

2. These include 50% share in Hilton Hotel in Saket, Delhi for Rs 31.7 Crore (current price = Rs 150 crore or more), 10000 Sq. Ft flat in DLF Aralias, Gurgaon, for Rs 89 lakh (current price = Rs 25 Crores), 7 flats in DLF Magnolia, Gurgaon, for Rs 5.2 Crores (current price Rs 100 Crores).
 

3. Balance sheets show these 5 firms had a total share capital of Rs 50 Lakh. Value of these properties on books was Rs 69.64 Crores. Firms had no obvious revenue stream. Seed money for acquisition came from unsecured, interest-free loan of over Rs 65 Crores from DLF.
 

4. Kejriwal and Bhushan claim that the worth of the properties when bought was Rs 300 Crores; now over Rs 500 Crores.
 

Source: The Times of India, October 6, 2012
 

The newspaper also mentions one quotation from Mr. Vadra:
 

“I have known the DLF people for a long time and they are friends of mine. I wanted to invest in real estate and one thing led to another.” – Robert Vadra, to Economic Times, March 14, 2011

How Nitish Kumar plays no better politics than Raj Thackeray

If you open any TV news channel these days, you are bound to be aware of one particular issue being discussed in full spirits. The same topic is also a matter of heated debate in the print media. Despite serious national issues like Coalgate scandal and regional issues like Assam riots being the prime focus, the Raj Thackeray Vs one and all issue has become a big hit. Currently, the national media and the nationalist Indians are cornering Raj Thackeray for his ‘anti-Bihari’ and ‘anti-migrant’ comments. Here are some of my observations on this issue:
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The root of this mess lies in the Azad Maidan riots in Mumbai when Muslim protesters carried out mass destruction of public property, publicly beat policemen and even desecrated Amar Jawan Memoial. Soon after, Raj Thackeray organized a big protest against the vandalism and tried to awaken the Maharashtrian voters against the “ineffectiveness” of state govt. Huge media outcry followed and the destruction of Amar Jawan memorial in particular touched a sensitive cord of public memory. The state govt, which is headed by Congress party, and the local police which take orders from them came into action and filed cases against dozens of accused of the riots and vandalism (this also seems to be a political gimmick of Congress to first appease Muslims by allowing them to have their showdown and then to appease Maharashtrian Hindus by trying to catch the culprits). One of these accused was a Muslim guy, a native of Mumbai, who happened to be caught in Bihar where he was staying for a few days before trying to escape outside the borders into Nepal. Soon after Mumbai police made the arrest in Bihar, Bihar govt wrote a letter to Maharashtra police reminding them about the protocol of informing the local (Bihar) police in case of such arrests. Raj Thackeray who had already championed this particular issue, reacted sharply asking why is it that all criminals run to Bihar after doing crime in Mumbai? Now the main point which media and political analysts are missing, I am not sure if by chance or deliberately, is that why Nitish Kumar and his govt had to object to a criminal accused being arrested in Bihar?

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Over the last many years, Nitish Kumar has been shrewdly playing minority politics in Bihar and trying to build Muslim vote banks. It was a political compulsion as such, because he had to grab Muslim vote banks from Lalu Prasad who had his legendary ‘MY’ formula to ensure a sure sort electoral victory. It seems to me that Nitish Kumar felt that the Bihari Muslim community would feel insulted that Mahrashtra police came to Bihar to arrest “one of them” and hence it sent that letter as a “proof” that Nitish Kumar will leave no stones unturned to protect the “interests” of the Muslim community. The same strategy clearly has been making Nitish Kumar to get into spontaneous and unsolicited attacks on Gujarat CM Narendra Modi because he believes that Muslims all over India would love anyone who hurts Mr. Modi. And not the least, who knows in these times of coalition politics where smaller parties have luxury of switching sides, creating such a “pro-Muslim” impression may help Mr. Kumar someday get his dream Prime Minister’s chair!

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Now Raj Thackeray’s response on the other hand has been most natural. At least after watching and hearing him (and Shiv Sena) for many years now I can say that his stand is totally understandable and predictable. Some people ransacked his motherland Mumbai and here is one guy who is objecting to Mumbai police from arresting the accused! How could he tolerate such an act? Of course Raj has a very strong opinion on things and lacks “politician like” diplomacy. So he ended up making more allegations on Biharis “in general”. His statements where he accuses Biharis and UP wallahs for flooding Mumbai and doing most crimes happening here are examples of such statements. Such allegations are factually incorrect (more migrants in Mumbai are from Karnataka/Gujarat/other Southern states than from Bihar; also all big mafia and underworld dons in the state are from the local population or at least not from Bihar). His allegations should be taken in the right spirits and should be seen in the perspective of the kind of political standing he has in the state. He was only “provoked” and “angry” at the prospect of being challenged by Nitish Kumar and some secondary leaders of JDU and made a lot of charged statements.

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I think therefore, Nitish Kumar is more to be blamed on this fiasco than Raj Thackeray. Nitish knew what he was getting into, but still “played it” in order to appease his Muslim vote banks. But if the fight goes on for extended time, this episode will come back to bite him. Here is how:

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Until last (most recent) such “regional wars” in Maharashtra, it was always “Marathi Vs North Indians”. The term “North Indian” was used both by Shiv Sena and MNS to target “migrants” from other states. But this time around we have got only “Biharis” on the spotlight. Till last time, the targets were of the likes of Congressi Kripa Shankar Singh (who hailed from UP and settled in Mumbai), but this time around, the targets are “Biharis” as a whole. No matter how Nitish Kumar hails his initiatives and developments in Bihar which have indeed reduced migrants going out of the state, for many years to come migration won’t be going to stop totally. People from Bihar have to go out of their state looking for better education and employment and this is not a choice for most but a kind of compulsion. If situation in Maharashtra worsens, especially because of the impending elections due to which all politicians won’t let such opportunities go, Biharis will know whom to blame. For Nitish Kumar, it will be a zero sum game.

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While the need of the hour is a more sensible approach by both parties, the onus lies more on Nitish Kumar. A new trend is that increasingly more JDU leaders are going to the media and speaking their hearts out while “representing” Nitish or Bihar in general. He needs to have better control and appoint some competent party spokesperson. Also, building minority vote bank may be a strategic need but getting into frequent verbal duals with counterparts from other states is not going to help him in the long run. Therefore, he should contain negative tactics in his politics and should feel more confident in the positive methods. The kind of good work he is doing in Bihar will win him many elections to come, unless he become so much  paranoid and insecure that he makes relationships with BJP and NDA partners sour on every appearing moment of truth. In the end, I won’t object to the sensationalism of such issues by media because no matter what they are not going to stop their TRP wars.

Now Petrol also has a Caste in India

It is often said that castes are a reality in India. These are not some virtual tags or surnames which impact nothing but only the way you write names. Your caste (mostly, if you are a Hindu) may affect the way you will be treated by others. Your caste may decide whether you are eligible to marry a girl of your choice or not. By and large and socially, this happened to be the limit castes would have impacted you – to gain you first cut acceptance or respect by your fellow caste-members, or to decide your eligibility criteria during prospective marriages. But when politics entered it, it has spiraled into many more spheres. Today, governments in India give entries into schools and colleges; give jobs, promotions, bank loans, ration, and a hell lot of other things, depending on your caste. Though most political parties have employed this ‘divide and rule’ strategy, if there is one party which has been pioneer in inventing more ways to ‘legalize’ casteism (caste based discrimination), it is the Indian National Congress (INC).

Legend is that in villages you have caste based sources of drinking water. Depending on your caste, you may or may not be allowed to drink water at a particular pond. This has been the tradition, started decades or centuries ago, and now defunct in most villages by and large. But now our government headed by the Congress party has come up with inventing almost the same process by replicating it in the area of fuel refilling at gas stations (called ‘Petrol Pumps’ in India). Govt has decided to allocate petrol pumps based on castes of the applicants. And hence, for the first time in modern history, you will have choice to refill your vehicle at the castes you like. You can decide to boycott the petrol pumps with owners of some particular castes and may choose only your own co-caste owners’ pumps. Loving it?

You can read more about this news here:

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/27-pc-quota-in-petrol-pump-allocation-for-obcs-reddy/977397/

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/article3695129.ece

Without doubt, such decisions and schemes are taken in order to build and please caste-based vote banks. I strongly oppose all such ‘caste-based’ schemes existing and being introduced. Castes and religion can’t be the criteria based on which an allocation can be done. Poverty alleviation is a completely different agenda and not related to castes. If we make laws and boost our economy to grow at a high ratem poor and downtrodden people from all castes will be benefited. But obviously politicians don’t see it the same way and they have their vote banks and elections in mind while they take any decision. Hence national interests take a back-seat.

Now that petrol also has a ‘caste’ in India, aap kaun se caste ka petrol bharwate hain? Which caste does your petrol belong to?

Disclaimer: Views are personal and do not represent views of any person or organization associated with the author. This is a personal blog. Purpose of write-ups is not to hurt anyone’s sentiments.

OBC Quota in Higher Education increased by Delhi Govt

The way Indian politicians are using caste as a vote bank politics is really shameful. Instead of reducing caste-quota gradually, they are increasing it for political vote bank politics. Congress govts have been leaders in such divide-and-rule politics.

Now a new decision has been made in Delhi (where Congress party rules), to increase the caste quota limits:

Delhi government increases OBC quota for higher education to 27 per cent

27 Feb, 2012, 01.29PM IST, PTI

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government on Monday increased the reservation in higher education for OBCs to 27 per cent from the present 21 per cent. With this increase, the total reservation in higher education institutions for SCs, STs and OBCs will go up to 49.5 per cent. The decision to increase the OBC quota was taken at a meeting of the state Cabinet chaired by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. News [Ref]

What bewilders me is that there is no proper study, no public debate, no time taken to understand the issue, but pure political opportunism. Whichever group of people (caste creates a group, giving them distinct identity) demands caste based reservations and does protests, will get it.

Also note that this increase in OBC quota has been done in “higher education”, while there has been no focus on primary education… Such caste-quota in higher education helps only rich and powerful OBC candidates get easy admissions in best colleges and universities. Our politicians will let the people below poverty line remain poor but will pamper the politically powerful richer classes within the communities, for political vote bank purpose…