The Patriot

After the terrorist attacks in Mumbai I have been hearing a lot of voices of the so called “most patriotic” people in India about how all families should send one of their children to the armed forces. Laws should be made to make it mandatory for every family to send its children to the armed forces. Apparently by doing so people will become “more patriotic” and inspire patriotism in others. How one incident can bring out the insanity of people!! I respect the fact that people are joining the armed forces willing to give up their life for their country but I am sorry joining the armed forces is not the only way one can express or be called patriotic. Security threats are only one of the umpteen threats that a nation can have. Forget the fact that it’s impossible for the government can not take this many no of people into the armed forces. 

I often notice that the families of the people who are in the armed forces have a false sense of the notion of patriotism. The people who are actually in the forces are quite sensible and know what exactly what patriotism is. Somehow when it comes to their family, they feel that they are being patriotic by having one of their family members in the forces. Sometimes I feel that they try and take credit for what the people in the armed forces are doing. I respect what they are doing and I know how important it is, but the families should not take it to their head. They have a sense that their definition of patriotism is the correct one and no one outside(armed forces) can differ with them (this need not be true with all but just that I have been hearing such an argument from many families in the armed forces for a while). 

Defending the nation is very important but that’s not the only thing the nation needs. Joining the forces is not the only way through which a person can show their love of their mother land. Our nation needs help in various sectors like education, agriculture, energy, elimination of poverty, health care, etc. If a person chooses to work in any such field is no less patriotic than a person in the armed forces. Dieing is not that only action that defines patriotism. In fact if a person makes a change or does anything good for the nation, however small that may be, is a patriot. Helping the nation become a better place is as patriotic as joining the armed forces. There is a need for all round development and equal emphasis needs to be given to all aspects of the development, not just security. Each individual will be good at something and they should be let to do. Forcing people join the army is the last thing that we need. 

For the people who have been affected by the terror attacks it’s a time of crisis. But in this time of crisis I hope people don’t lose their equilibrium. This is one of the many absurd ideas that have been floating around since the attacks. I do believe that this is a temporary phase and normalcy will return soon in every sense of the word. Emotional decisions never produce the desired outcome. 

Mumbai 26/11

The Mumbai terrorist attack is something that has not only shocked the entire nation but also the entire world. I believe this attack will have a huge impact in India .I agree that it’s not possible to prevent every attack. Our intelligence system can not be blamed. If a motivated person decides that he wants to cause some damage, it’s next to impossible to predict when and where he is going to attack. The problem with this attack is that, these terrorist came in via the sea, went about shooting people and then took refuge in various places and the whole process went about for quite a while. Even if one cannot predict a terrorist attack, but if terrorist go about shooting people, we expect the authorities to be able to handle the situation much quicker. I don’t know if it’s just me but 4 or 5 top police officers getting killed is not something normal. The people who are supposed to lead the operation getting killed, all at once is something really disturbing. The whole situation exposed the unpreparedness of our police system.

I was just looking back at the entire incident. Initially I was impressed by the way the politicians handled the whole situation. The Prime Minister and the leader of opposition seemed to be united. Well, I came to such a conclusion way to early. I felt the BJP made a lot of hypocritical statements. Today, for no apparent reason we see Narainder Moodi, who starts to cry when one asks him about the godhra riots which was “handled” by him, comes to Mumbai and has a press conference at ground zero as if he was some important national leader, while the encounter was still going on. I guess he forgot the fact that he is hated in most of India. It’s quite appalling the way in which the BJP handled the entire situation. Anything that the BJP has to say on terrorism can be termed as hypocrisy. All the terrorist attacks that happen in India are in one way or the other because of the BJP. Terrorist attacks in this form started happen only after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, which was pioneered by the BJP and its affiliated sorry excuses for cultural organizations. Who can forget the way they handled the communal violence in Gujarat and the Kandhar hijacking, which happened when the BJP government was in power. They released terrorist, who are responsible for almost all the terrorist attacks that happen around the world. So the BJP has no freaking moral right to preach about terrorism. These attacks would have taken place no matter who was in power. If the BJP doesn’t watch itself and tries to take too much political mileage out of this, instead of having a hung assembly after the elections, the BJP, like last time out, because of its arrogance would find itself sitting in the left side of the house. By no means am I defending the congress. They have to admit their failure but the BJP is making sure that a lot of hatred that the peopel will have for the ruling is shifted towards them. 

I hope Raj Thakkare wont have a problem with the non Marathi NSG officers saving Marathi lives.  

The notion of having newer terror laws is purely a political propaganda. These terrorist come out to die. No law is going to deter them. What we need is a well equipped police system. People should not be allowed to run around with guns firing at people. Even though our forces are doing a very good job in handling the present situation, I feel that a lot more needs to be done. The police forces need to get more training and should be well equipped. There is no way that we can eliminate terrorism in the near future. What we can do is be prepared for such attacks, Modernization holds the key.

Our intelligence system has been getting a lot a stick. I feel people are being a bit unfair to do so. The geographical position of India is such that it’s a miracle we have had only these many terrorist attacks. We have wonderful neighbors; Pakistan, Bangladesh and China. China is not directly involved in the terrorist attacks in India but their support to Pakistan is really hurting us and I believe that is something that they want. We have a humongous cost line. To patrol the entire cost line is not an easy task.

People might wonder why India has more terrorist attacks than say USA. USA is very far from Pakistan and Bangladesh. It takes some doing to travel across the world with weapons and create havoc. It because of our relative position in the world that we are facing this many terrorist attacks.

What this attack has done is that it has shaken us very badly. The Prime ministers address to the nation was very strong. He literally said that Pakistan was involved in the attacks in one way or the other and said that there will be serious consequences. The way the PM has handled the entire situation is quite commendable. For the first time he is acting like the Prime Minister of India. The External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukkerji, also had some strong words for Pakistan. Top officials of our forces have also blamed Pakistan. Now from what I have seen so far, there is a serious deterioration of Indo-Pak relations which in turn can lead to a war. The Pakistan officials keeping that in mind are constantly in touch with India. War at this point of time can cause India dearly (economically).Right now we are in a situation where its gonna be really hard for us to find a job, on top of that if we have a war or something similar, things wont be too good for us. I really hope that such a step is not taken. I honestly do not think that the present government in Pakistan is directly involved in terrorist activities that originate from Pakistan. Moreover a war will destabilize Pakistan more and the situation won’t be favorable for India. I hope we handle the whole issue wrt Pakistan cautiously. The way the Pakistan side is reacting shows the seriousness of the matter. You see people in the highest level giving press conferences every 30mins, and are willing to answer each and every question. They are not acting in a way heads of states are supposed to act. This shows that even they are aware of the Pak link. Sending the ISI chief to India, how often does that happen?

This attack has had a huge impact on our image. We are going through tough economic times and this attack will affect us very adversely at least in the short term. The attack depicts India to the world as an unsafe place. Our political and intelligence system have got a bashing in the international media. There has been a huge dent in our image in the international front. Above all that the attack has angered the Indian public. As a result of this attack many changes can be expected on the ground. This attack in a way has helped us see the loop holes in our system. Hopefully the sentiment won’t die off and we can get to so some solid steps.

These terrorist who looks like school kids, have managed to terrorize a nation for more than 50 hours. Two things can be inferred out of this. First, they are well trained and are damn good in what they do. Second it doesn’t give a “good impression” about out preparedness. One terrorist with no hostages holding up scores of NSG personals, I do not know what to say.

Another thing that came to my notice was the accolades that the employees of both the hotels got from the trapped tourist. They have taken customer satisfaction to an all new level. There have been reports of many hotel staff putting their life at risk to come to the aid of their guests. The tourist also had praises for our security forces. I was also pretty impressed with they way many news channels handled the whole issue.

Even before the terrorist attack it was quite obvious that if some one comes up with a gun and starts shooting anywhere in the country, the chances of the person being gunned down before causing soem damage is very low. But this incident just took it to a whole new level. I hope serious reforms are made and our forces made more equiped to handle such situations. 

Tragic the situation is, but I believe that a lot of good is going to come out of this. My heart goes out for every one who lost their lives. I was touched by the brave relatives of the people who lost loved ones. When the going gets tough the tough gets going. This incident has proved that in a crisis all humas are tough. 

Innocent until proven guilty?

Better to let 100 guilty men go free than to convict one innocent man, Innocent until proven guilty. These principles epitomize Indian democracy. The freedom that all of us enjoy, the sense of security that we feel, is because of this principle. Unfortunately today, I feel that some parts of the media have made a complete mockery of this. I do agree that all news channels to certain extend support the alleged victims to a certain extend, but certain other channels find it their duty to play the role of judiciary. I don’t watch all the news channels in India, but from the few I watch I found that, the news channel "Times Now"" is ridiculously amateur, completely unethical and out right stupid. Most of the murder cases that get covered by the media, they decided to come to a judgment just on the basis of what the alleged victim says.  

Recently a goa minister’s son was accused of committing a rape of a German minor girl. The son might very well have done it. From him looks and his fathers track record its very likely that the son was guilty. An average person on the street can come to such a conclusion and may be tell every one but news channels need to be more responsible. Media has a huge impact on the public. It shapes their views. To blindly come to a judgment is ridiculous. To move ahead without even considering the fact that the allegation could be false is utterly dumb. It could well be a political propaganda.  

I have a problem with this news channel. My parents seem to love it. They say they get politically unbiased views from this channel. They might get a politically unbiased view, but the views that they get are utterly stupid. Its one thing to have your own opinion on issues, but to spread ridiculously stupid views to the entire country and there by misleading the entire nation is unacceptable. Watching this channel made me realize what the term "evils of the media" really meant. They blow things completely out of proportion. Sensationalize things to the core. Take what people said completely out of context and put the worst possible meaning into it. There have been instances where their reports have been found to be false. They like to play with the emotions of the public.  

I do agree that we got a few good news channels here and if this channel follows the same path with its amateur reporters they would go bankrupt. I can understand spicing up the news but taking the soul out of the news, i.e. the truth, is showing disrespect to their profession. Don’t get me started with the way in which their editor talks. He takes ages to come to the point, stutters like anything and his questions are so dumb.  

Any way coming back to the topic, the role of the judiciary should be left to the judiciary. The medias role is to ensure that justice is done and not to give out judgments. They should look into the hindrances in the justice system and not play the role of a judge. They should always respect the fact that there could be a 1% chance that the accused could be innocent and keeping that in mind should refrain from defaming the person. I believe the role of the media is to report objectively. They can show passion in their reporting but should have a sense of reality with that. News channels influence a lot of people and they should always keep that in mind

Realization

The dog incident reminded me how things can change within seconds. The dog and his friend were simply walking around, playing and all of a sudden one of them gets hit by a car and is badly injured (not sure if it is dead by now or is still alive). Neither of the dogs would have ever imagined such a thing would happen. The whole incident shook me, it hit me like a bolt of lightning. The sense that I own my destiny, I am in control of my future, just got knocked out of me. It reminded me that anything can happen to any one, reminded me that life is full of uncertainties.  

My grand mother used to tell me that the reason why we have sorrows or bad situations is that god wants to test our faith. Another version is that god wants to ensure that we are reminded that he controls every thing and we give him the due respect. The question of the existence           of god is debatable and we can never have a final word in this issue. But I do believe that incidents such as the one I had happens so that we are brought back to the ground. Humans tend to have this false sense of assurance that every thing is under control. People tend to take for granted that they are going to live one second from now. People take for granted that nothing will go wrong. I believe that such incidents happen when one looses a sense of reality. To ensure that we get our feet back in the ground faith or what ever one wants to call it make sure that we get our feet back in the ground and recognize the fact that we are just insignificant mortals in the large scheme of things. 

Its not a dogs world

Our society is not very kind to our animal friends. Today as I was coming back home in my bike, a dog jumped in front of me and luckily I didn’t hit him. 2 seconds later, the dog runs across the road and gets hit by a car. I hear sounds of the dog crying, my dad who was sitting behind me was telling me, move on the dog died. Fortunately the dog didn’t die. On second look, I found that the dog was injured badly and it was bleeding. The immediate response of the people who were standing by was to drive that dog away. The dog ran away. It was in excruciating pain. The whole incident tells us two things. One that I am a faint hearted person and second, we as a society seriously should change in the way we treat our animal friends. 

 The dog got hit by a car, it was an accident. It happens very often here. But the sad part is, no one knows what to do with an injured animal. The kind of animal control that is popular here is the ones that are there to electrocute them. I do not know any place where one can contact to take care of an injured animal. Even if such a place is there it’s not popular enough. Animals unlike humans are so sweet and honest. They are pure at heart. If treatment and care is available for anti social thugs, shouldn’t these animals get some kind of help? There needs to be a place where people get paid to rehabilitate injured animals. They should have the resources to get these animals from the street and given them proper care. As the fundamentals of our economy are very strong I do not see any reason for not having such an organization or institute. To run such a place the help of both the government and individuals are necessary.

 Taking care of animals is not an easy task. For starters animals don’t pay you. Like the many charitable organizations that we have, we need one for animals too, a place where animals are taken care of instead of being electrocuted. On my part, an animal shelter goes into my "things to do before I die" list. No animal deserves to die alone in pain. 

Elections 2009

General elections are around the corner and I was wondering about the strategy that various parties would adopt to fight the next election. What I have noticed is that the Congress party has seriously under marketed their achievements. Unless you are a really curious person and wants to know about the achievements of the present government and is willing to spend quite a lot of time searching google or news paper archives for the information, its most likely that one would be clueless about what the present government did(apart from the Indo-US nuclear deal which by the way wont win you any elections any where).  

When the previous government was in power they used to have 100's of ads enlightening the people about their vision for India, India shining, golden quadrilateral etc etc. They had an excellent marketing strategy. They ensured that every single policy they had was highlighted. But after doing all that they lot the elections.  

Thus the question arise, is marketing really necessary for wining elections? I started following various social issues only about 8-10 years ago and hence my knowledge about the stuff that happened before that is limited. I strongly believe that a right marketing strategy would be crucial for winning an election. A huge majority of Indian voters do not have televisions and cables.  One of the main reasons why BJP's strategy did not pay of is that they just concentrated on the small minority of voters(people with TV and stuff, basically the people who belong to the middle class and above), another reason being that the people were appalled with their communal/ hate politics that they had adopted. 

I haven’t seen any ads of the congress government, even if there are its very few. As the cable TV viewing public is a small minority of the Indian voters, even if they don’t come up with any ads it really doesn’t matter. The various debates that happen in TV will get the message through to the urban voter. What really matters is if they are getting their message through to the ruler voter who is going to make or break their election. 6 or 7 months back i would have said that the congress had no chance in hell of winning or even competing in the coming election. Thanks to the various antics of the BJP the congress is back in the running. People in India do not want violence and they certainly wont support any party that is the root cause of this violence.  

Marketing remains the key in this election also. The mantra of marketing is politics is same as in the normal marketing.  Identify your target customers (voters), ensure that your message is received by the loud and clear. I do not think that the congress is going to win this election with a majority no matter what they do now. What they can do now is ensure that their policies and vision publicized in the right places. The congress came into power on the votes of the aam aadmi and they must ensure that the aam aadmi would trust them and believe in their policies once again for coming into power

I had completely ruled out the left from the 2009 elections but thanks to the trinamool unfortunately that is not going to happen. The happenings of the past few months have ensured that a clear winner won’t be there after the elections. What happens in the coming months will be very crucial. History has shown us that Indian elections are unpredictable. This one will be no different.  

I am sooo happy

Today the High Court has termed Raj Thackery and MNS as terrorist. It had a few harsh words for the police and the Maharashtra government. That just made my day. Finally better sense has prevailed. The icing on the cake would be to arrest Raj Thackery on the charge of disruption of peace and inciting communal violence, attempted murder and may be hindrance to national unity as well and put him behind bars for the rest of his sorry life and to that ban MNS as an organization citing national security reasons. Its shame that such creatures as Raj Thackery are allowed to move around freely in India. Gonda rule should not be allowed. People who are affected by his sorry excuse for an ideology should get together and beat the living crap out of these guys. 

The whole purpose of me writing this is, hate politics should be dealt with extreme hate. People who think that they can do whatever they please and get away with it should be taken to task. In fact laws like POTA should be there to deal with such antisocial, antinational excuses of a human being. In a country in which the media is very dominant, where the people will always have the last say such creatures shouldn’t be allow to live freely. We should nip such behaviors in the bud itself. Frankly speaking if the "sorry excuse for a human being" continues to be arrogant and adamant and violates the Indian constitution one more site, a shoot at site order should be given against that "sorry excuse for a human being". This is ridiculous. I really hope next time when I hear about news about any violence caused by the “sorry excuses for a human being” its followed by the news of him being dead in an encounter or a news of his arrest followed by him getting a life sentence

Jai Hind

The Third world war

It has been said or I may have made it up my self that the third world war is going to be fought over resources. With every passing day the thought seems to be coming closer to a reality. In fact we even have instances where battles have been fought for resources. I believe at this point of time humans are the only living creatures that does not follow(at least to a certain extend)Darwin’s "survival of the fittest" theory. When it comes to humans, the weakest are given the at most care. This is soon going to change. Its a fact that the resources in our planet are fast getting depleted. The time is not far from now when humans would have to fight for their survival. We can try and slow the process but it’s going to be inevitable. Too many people competing for too little resources.  

Had humans followed Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest all the problems that we are facing now would never have occurred. Only the strongest would have survived and there will be plenty of resources for all. I believe all the natural and unnatural calamities are nature’s way to restore balance. As medical science has advanced so much that chances of one dying has been reduced to a great extend the scope of nature’s survival of the fittest policy.  

A time will come when each country would have no choice but to attack other countries to get the resources it needs. That is why people say that the third world war will mark the end of the world. A war for resources will finish only when all the resources are depleted. (at a later stage people will fight against each other for resources).  

Man is known for his resilience and innovations. We have faced all sort of atrocities and invariable have come on top. Since we are known to get going when the going gets tough, our only hope is that before such a situation happens or even after it has happened, man will come up with some innovations which will ensure the supply side shortage is overcome. I do believe that there is a limit to what man can do. Unless human being evolve into something that can live on land, air and water and can adapt to what ever is there in the world even if the world doesn’t end, Homo-sapiens as we know now will get extinct(Technically if man evolves into something else homo-sapiens will end there itself). 

The fall of Lehman Brothers

As I was watching the news i was shocked to hear that Lehman Brothers were going to file for bankruptcy. Even though this has not officially happened yet, its said that its just a matter of time. I am not sure if people saw this coming but I definitely didn’t. It was something like a wake up call for me even though I am in now away (at least directly) affected by the fall of the company. Naturally when a company files for bankruptcy the future of its employees won’t be that bright. That’s one of the reasons for my shock and fear. 

Lehman Brothers is an old and a really big company. It’s a company which is supposedly trusted by many and till now in the wildest of my dreams i never expected this to happen. I have no particular liking for Lehman Brothers but the fall represents a bigger issue. Till today morning I was under the impression that if you have a good education, if you are reasonably smart the chances of you going broke is very little. Even though the people associated with Lehman brothers will or may get settled in various other jobs this is a reminder that anything can happen to any one. I never thought that the employees of the company would ever have to worry about such a situation arising. This shows that no one is safe in this day and age. Even if you are the richest, most established company in the world you could go bankrupt in the blink of an eye(at least form an outsiders point of view). 

I don’t know if the bankruptcy is a part of a greater fraud or anything, but it has opened my eyes. Even though I have always have heard people say always reinvent yourself, innovate, never relax etc, its now that I am getting tangible evidence for the need to do the same. It tells us that we should never let our guard down. 

What will happen to the employees? I don’t know.  This has given me a harsh reminder on how harsh the private sector can be. Other companies have fallen before, but most of the times we always used to see it coming. Even though Lehman Brothers is not the first company to surprise the world by declaring bankruptcy, it’s not going to be the last. The number of such established companies going broke is rising alarmingly. Is this a part of the cycle where after a period of robust economic growth and security the depression starts which in turn will lead to another period of economic growth? I got absolutely no clue. What I know is, the resources in this planet is being used up at a rapid rate, unless there are some big time innovations the situation in the future is going to be very bleak. The concept of survival of the fittest will be taken to a all new level

Singur issue - The big picture

What is happening in Singur is the left getting a taste of their own medicine. It was a kind of project that the left would have opposed any time. The whole Singur issue has given me a new found respect for the left. Its well known that the left often holds various issues for ransom(they hold the country at ransom), but they wind up their agitation in a decent way. Either they would have gone for a compromise formula or they would have got a promise of a compromise formula. Either way the damage they cause compared to what Mamatha Banerjee has caused is insignificant. What she has done in Singur is illogical. If she had done the whole agitation in a proper way, she would have got maximum political mileage from it. Unfortunately for her she overdid it big time. Rite now a part of West Bengal and India is very angry with her. This was a golden opportunity for her to get maximum seats in the coming Lok Sabha elections and other future elections and she blew it in the sense, the kind of advantage she had a couple of months back has reduced. Holding a state for ransom and not even thinking about the notion of a compromise is socially, politically and economically unacceptable. I do agree that the farmers should get a fair deal but what she has done is quite insane. 

Apart form the politicians there are a bunch of environmentalist and social workers who are against this project. I am a person who is deeply concerned with global warming, soil erosion and other environmental issues. But nation has to progress and its far more better economically and environmentally to give farm land instead of forest land for setting up industries. Comparatively a large area in our country consists of farm land and it’s high time that we focused more of intensive agriculture. The environmentalist will always have a rigid stand and they have valid reasons for it, even if some of it is paranoia, we need such people so that we are reminded about the hazards of irresponsible industrialization. I believe any more deforestation is unacceptable and the only way out her is to give farm land.

Now coming to the bigger issue. The seizure of land by the government for development is something that will happen. The entire land belongs to the state and the state has the right to take the land for its citizens for the greater good of the society. The state is expected to pay compensation to the citizens but to expect "fair" compensation is unrealistic simply because the state doesn’t have enough money. "Reasonable" compensation is what should be expected. I agree that when it happens to you one would find it really unfair. Unfortunately for the development of the state such things are required. Without such seizers there wouldn’t be national highways, rail roads, airports etc.  For the greater good of the society such things are bound to happen in the future. To keep on agitating and causing violence each and every time this happens is ridiculous. The only solution to this problem is all political parties coming to a consensus which is something very unrealistic. Hence my only hope is, even if there are agitations it would not be taken as far as what Mamtha Banarjee did. 

PS: When Mamatha Banarjee was the railways minister she has misplaced many people and the kind of compensation that they got was equivalent to pocket change compared to what people in Singur are getting. This incident again proves to us all that politicians are hypocrites

Where are we heading to

Yet another bomb blast in India, that too in the national capital. Is our national security that hopeless that no Indian can feel safe in their own home? For a country which is as big and great as India is the security situation here is pathetic. We compare our selves with China and in this front we lagging far behind. Instead of concentrating on state specific anti terror laws we should spend a major share of resources in counter terrorist units, terrorism prevention etc. As we are facing terror attacks after terror attacks and most of them are not being solved, the terrorist have an invincible feeling and for good reason. I am fed up of hearing politicians condemning these acts. It’s time for action. 

We can solve this problem in two ways. Do the unthinkable, bring in the military into the country and destroy all the naxals, terrorist and various antisocial, anti national pieces of crap. Bringing the army into various parts of the country will have its side effects. The army will be ruthless and the normal life will be affected for sure. This will be very fast and will have political, economic and social fallouts (consider the example of Indira Gandhi and the Sikh issue). This will be a very effective method of solving this problem but is unlikely to be implemented. Military is only called upon if every single possible alternative has been thought about, implemented and failed. 

The second way is a long and permanent way to solve the problem. We got to improve our intelligence system(even though we get intelligence on various bomb threats, we need to have more specific intelligence reports as where the bombs will be detonated), have a system through which each and every person in the country can be identified (some kind of ID card), much more security in our borders and various such steps should be taken. A central agency like the FBI should be there to prevent and investigate such attacks. We need to have experts in this field to ensure that our country becomes much safer. We need to improve our cyber crime prevention unit. There are so many hackers/crackers in this country and the government needs to utilize them in the most productive way possible. We need to intercept various communications so that we can prevent such acts of terror. Unfortunately to implement anything we need funds, which is something we lack.

The Home minister and the government have to take certain portion of the blame for such terror attacks. It seems that every state in India is a soft target. The problem that I have is that the government is not taking any concert steps. Even though I do not think BJP or any other party would have done anything better as the congress is ruling they should take responsibility for these attacks. I remember when I was small my parents used to tell me do not take anything kept on the road (like plastic covers or anything) as they could be bombs. There were various movies which showed various ways in which terrorist plant bombs. When ever we saw a cover or anything a bomb alert would automatically go in our minds. I believe its time that the present generation children got such training. 

Can anything be done to monitor such a vast and diverse country like India? I don’t know the answer. But what the government can do is show the people what it is doing to prevent such acts. Give the people as sense that the government is doing what ever it can to ensure the safety of its citizens. The government needs to prove to the people of the nation that it cares.  Every other week we see news reporters taking bombs into various sensitive areas and exposing the vulnerability of our system, which is very unsettling. 

Another main issue which the government have to watch as a by product of these attacks is communal violence. The terrorist are not doing the Muslims in the country any good by these attacks. All attacks are done in the name of Allah. If the attacks keep on continuing the chances of communal violence in India is really high. Naxal attacks are a totally different issue all together. 

Where do we go from here? I don’t know. What I want is very simple, strong and concrete action from the government. Instead of saying sorry (as the Home minister has just said) I want to know what the government is doing so that terrorist cannot plant bombs as easily as a child plants trees. I agree that all terror attacks cannot be prevented but the frequency with which these attacks are happening in India is alarmingly high. This is a time when the people of the nation are feeling unsafe. In a way these terror attacks are a way through which a nation which is deeply divided can find a common ground through which it can unite. The government, law enforcement agencies and the people of India should unite and tackle this problem together. Mutual cooperation is the only way through which India can get this messes of terrorism under control and move forward

The Nuclear drama

Why on earth is every one in this country concerned over a letter that was circulated in the US rather than the actual 123 agreement which is legally binding internationally. The whole racket made by the opposition is on the issue of our right to test. They are still hung over by their "India Shining" campaign. They see India 10 notches above from what it actually is. Now about the issue, what will happen if we test? There will be sanctions; US might stop supplying after a year of negotiations. Is this something new? 123 agreement or not, if we test there will be serious consequences. Why on earth would the US want to keep on supplying to a country nuclear material to a country which tests nuclear weapons, it goes against the principle of nonproliferation. 

 

At this point of time we are in nuclear isolation. The chances of us moving forward without the deal (wrt nuclear technology) is next to nil. The text of the 123 agreement has been made public and that’s what all of us should be concerned about. India has the right to test and the US has the right to withdraw supplies. I don’t see what is so dastardly about this. I still cant understand (other than simple politics) why the BJP is opposing this deal. It was during their regime that Indo-US relations started to improve. 

 

I really do not believe that India should be concerned by a leaked letter. What is legal between India and the US i the 123 agreement. What happens inside US should not affect India and vice versa. In both countries the deal will be presented in a way which is politically right. There has been a lot of noise made over the nuclear deal by various sections the whole nuclear deal has been blow out of proportion. Majority of the noises about the nuclear deal is very vague. Without a proper understanding of the text, using certain words and phrases certain sections are tiring to make this into a larger issue. The text of the deal is public, stop worrying about some letter which is being circulated in some other country. If you look at it in a purely innocent way, Manmohan Singh is for the deal, APJ Abdul Kalam is for the deal. I would trust these people over Prakash Karat and Yashwant Sinha any day. 

Another reason why there should be no more "left" in India

After the trust vote as the left kind of went into political hibernation, I was getting used to not hearing outrageous/ridiculous statements(from the left). Unfortunately that was to last till today morning. In an interview to a Malayalam news channel, the Industries minister of Kerala was saying that if the industrialist had a realistic approach, no one will encounter any losses as a result of the hartals that prevail in Kerala. They should take into account the possible no of hartals that might occur every year and set targets accordingly. He even enlightened the viewers with an example of KSRTC's profit making mantra:|:|.

It is because of such ridiculous thinking, I feel that for the sake of the nation, the left should never have any say in politics. The left wont do anything for the development of the state and they wont let others do anything either. For the sake of a few the fundamental rights of the majority are violated. Hartals should represent the unity among people not fear. The most ridiculous part of a hartal is that it never produces any outcome. The reason for that is the people who call them have a different agenda. They do not want to find a solution but what they want is popularity. If a hartal is aimed at solving a problem, then instead of working on the fear of people the organizers would try and get the support of the masses. What we see today is disrespectful to the law and the people of the land. The only outcome of a hartal today is the disruption of normal life and loss of millions of rupees.

Most of the communist leaders in kerala are uneducated, unintelligent and more or less useless. Most of them are thugs. Instead of trying to bring peace and normalcy to the state they are trying to ensure that a state whose financial situation is one of the worst in the country becomes even worse. Hartals may or many not be right but for the minister of industries to give such an idiotic solution/explanation is unacceptable. I am not completely against the communist ideology as such, but with the kind of misguided leaders that the left has, who have no clue about what communism is and the party as a whole banking on power and fear to get more supporters it just a matter of time before my sweetest dream come true, THE END OF THE LEFT IN INDIA.

Ashamed of being an Indian?

This is in reference to two major incidents that is taking place in our country. First is the insanity that is going on in Maharashtra. Even though the municipal corporation ( Maharashtra) had decided to make it mandatory for all shows to have sign boards in Marathi, Raj Thackery and his party works decides that its his moral responsibility to forcible, by causing a lot of destruction, instill fear in the minds of people and make them change their sign boards. I am fed up blaming Raj Thackery so I am not going to do that now, instead I blame the police for its failure to do its duty. If the police cant protect citizens, the god help us all. No wonder why terrorists target our country so often. If people can get away with various crimes in broad daylight then there is no chance in hell that any one will be caught if things are done in a planned fashion. I can understand a riot happening once in a while or disruption of peace occasionally, but the MNS is a party that is causing harm to the citizens of India time after time. Its a shame that neither the election commission nor the law enforcement agencies nor the judiciary has done anything to stop this madness. The situation is setting a wrong precedent. Every single organization would think that to achieve its goals violence is the best way forward. Its a shame that the citizens of India have no guarantee of their security. This issue needs to be addressed as soon as possible before it gets out of hand.

The second issue is the communal violence that is happening in Orrisa. The VHP leader was killed and I dont know who killed him. But the killings done by the VHP is absolutely dis speakable. If they are so damn sure that some christian works killed them, why couldn't they have killed the works who committed the crime instead of going after innocent people. Burning a nun alive! what kind of country do we live in. After committing the crime VHP leaders are defending what they did. I would have had no problems with them had they killed the people responsible for the murder of their leader. This is just plane insane. One of the problems that lead to all this is the religious conversion which take place in Orrisa. The people who get converted are the poor and the downtrodden. Why are the Hindu organizations getting anxious about them only when they get converted not when they are need of help. The BJP is a party which if affiliated to the VHP and many of its top leaders are active members of the VHP. If the VHP justifies the killings then so does each of its members. Defending a crime and provoking people to commit crimes should be punished.

All these communal riots shows the weakness of our society. People don't even have the slightest of fear in taking the law in their own hands. There is no use talking sense with these law breakers because they have a very different agenda from what they preach. We should have stricter laws. The problem with our democracy is that too much power is there in the hands of the people, at least people with political backing. A serious introspection is needed and a solution needs to be found or else the whole nation will be burn in no time

War should be in the mind

When i was in school my history teacher was telling about the wars India had with Pakistan and the blunder which he thought Nehru had committed when he didn't capture Islamabad. At that time and even till few months back i did believe that what Nehru did was stupid. Recently I had a change of heart. If Nehru had captured Islamabad then India would have been bombarded with unprecedented acts of terrors. I am not talking about the Pakistani army getting resurrected and fighting wars against India, I am talking about rouge elements in Pakistan trying to get revenge by various acts of terror on civilians. Even though at this point of time India is facing lots of acts of terror, this would be nothing compared to what would have happened if we had captured Pakistan. Right now only a small minority in Pakistan have hatred towards India. The situation would have been much different hadn't Nehru done what he had done. There would have been a huge anti India sentiment and it would have been extremely easy for the extremist and the fundamentalist to exploit this feeling and plot against India. War by rouge elements in a country is much dangerous than a war by military forces. In a military war civilians are generally not targeted where as terrorist would not refrain from doing anything. Hence I believe what Nehru did was in the interest of the country.

Now the bigger issue," the war on terror". I got this point of view from a RC passage in some AIMCAT. Even if the US destroys Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan and various other countries, they(or the world community) would never win the war on terror. When there is a war and innocent people die, the hatred towards the nation causing all the damage would sky rocket. Hence even if all the terrorist camps are destroyed its just a matter of time before new ones crop up. As people would lose what ever they have and are left with nothing to live for, naturally their only aim would be to make the country who caused them all the pain pay big time.(there are lots of examples, on of the most damaging on is the military action that Russia conducted on Chechnya, and the innumerable instances of innocent civilians killed by Chechnian terrorist as their response to Russia's military action) A terrorist to cause damage does not have to destroy an entire nation, all he/she has to do is target key locations and any nation would bleed. Even if no acts of terror are conducted, the mass hysteria that terrorist creates is even more dangerous than the terror acts. People feeling unsafe, various propaganda being circulated, the panic and fear the stays in peoples mind are various examples.

The only way to win the war against terror is in the mind. Only if we change the mind set of people can the war against terror be won. When people are reformed the chances of them turning back is very less. The only thing which any war can achieve is an exponential increase in hatred. Governments should take steps towards changing the mind sets of people. They should ensure that people are not lured by the terrorists. The various conditions such as poverty, illiteracy, hunger, which are the main cause for people to turn into extremist should be addressed by governments. No community should feel left out or discriminated against. Only when such a state is attained we can win the war against terrorism. Simply bombing and destroying countries wont do the trick.

Helpless!

These are times in which one feel absolutely helpless and hopeless as an Indian. It makes one give up the hope of seeing a developed and prosperous India. I am talking about the absolutely unnecessary events that are taking place in Jammu and Kashmir and the even more unnecessary events that are taking place at various other parts of India as a result of the violence in J&K.

Mahatma Gandhi would be banging his head on the walls in heaven on seeing the consequence of his idea of "peaceful" protests\agitations taken to a all new level. What Gandhi did was necessary for getting India's freedom. Unfortunately total people are misusing the idea of satayagrah for their selfish needs. Right now in India the answer to any problem is to block roads, damage public\private property and injure civilians. I do not know what term can be used to describe the recent events in J&K. The protests and violence is no more about the Amarnath Land deal. It has become personal. It has become a fight between Jammu and Kashmir. The worst part is that people are falling for the separatist and other anti social groups in the region and causing violence.

The situation in Jammu is very volatile and communal. The thing that makes me so fucking angry is that when a region is divided and when the division is communal, the way parties and organizations such as the BJP, VHP, Shiva Sena behave. For getting a few votes/supporters they are willing to risk the national unity. In politics people will have different ideologies but its really sad to see that there are political parties in India which justify violence and are even willing to kill for getting more supporters. I remember L K Advani in an interview saying that, rules which are broken in political agitations cannot be considered criminal. This was his reaction when asked about the various deaths that occurred as a direct result of the various communal agitations that BJP and its affiliated groups have caused.

Today one person died as a result of the strike called by the VHP. This person was ill and was being taken to the hospital. His vehicle was not allowed to go by the VHP protesters. There are plenty of times when i feel patriotic and want to do something for the development of the nation, but at times like this I feel its much better if i migrate to some other country. In India violent protests occur for no reason at all and the more often than not the aim of the protest and destruction is to let people know about the party conduction the protest. Violence in Mumbai because at places they use the word "Bombay" or because of English sign boards at shops.

The recent so called agitations by the VHP and various Hindu hardliner groups is something which is to be condemned using the hardest possible words. The sad part is many people join these groups and believe what they are doing is right. The BJP is dilly dallying with being secular and communal. According to its convince it chose to be secular or communal. 61 years ago when the freedom fighters fought for India's independence they had one thing in their mind. An united India, an India where all its citizens are given equal rights, an India where people can follow any religion that they choose and have the freedom to express themselves. The problem with India is that we don't give enough importance to the constitution. Each and every individual should be made aware of his/her constitutional rights and then the situation here will change. The only difference between the Muslim extremist and Hindu extremist is that, Muslim extremist kill through out the world and the Hindu extremist kill just in India.

Protest are good and is essential for a democracy. But what is happening in India is not good, its an exploitation of the constitution. Citizens of India should do what ever it takes to ensure that its constitution is not violated. We should fight against all the groups which try to divide this nation on the basis of religion. India wont be India if its constitution is violated this often.

Why not us?

After Abhinav Bindra won the gold in the 10m air riffle in the Beijing Olympics we all were in seventh heaven. The whole nation was celebrating. One of the first questions that popped up in my mind was, should we be jumping up and down when we got just one gold medal. A country with a population of more than a billion getting 1 out of the 1000 odd medals up for grabs, is it really something that deserve comments like, "we beat the Chinese"? At first my answer was a big NO. After a while the NO changed to " who am I kidding, as a sporting nation we are hopeless, celebrate every little success you get in the world stage."

After a while when i was watching TV, I heard a reporter asking, "is this medal the spark that India requires for being a world leader in sports?" The sports person in the panel replied, this is what was said about the silver that India won in Athens. All the hype and glory will died out within an year and everything was back to normal.

What he said was true and there was a good reason for that. The problem with these Olympic sports in India is that, after the Olympics is over, the telecast of such events is almost nil. So for people to follow various Olympic sports is quite hard and hence its natural the interest levels of people will dip after the Olympics(not that its over the roof during it). Another problem that we have is the role sports play in our lives. In the US and the various other sporting countries Olympic events are given a great importance in the grass root level ie the schools. A student can chose sports as a way of life. Achievers in various sports are given scholarships in all the universities and hence sports becomes a way of securing ones future. Unfortunately in India the people who take up sports and fail to reach the top are left with no option other than to beg. The sports people neglect their studies and pursue their dream and if it fails they are left on their own on the streets. Hence parents and children will have to think twice before getting into sports(excluding cricket).

For India to become a sporting power house, its not enough that we build thousands of stadiums and give people easy access to the facilities(I am not saying that we have thousands of stadiums fit for athletes to train properly). The government and various universities and schools should take steps to make sports a way of living. Even though we have sports quotas in colleges, a better plan needs to be there so that the people who step into sports feels save about their future. The problem with Indians is that we are afraid to take risks. Its quite hard for some one to do something which is a bit different. We copy a lot of stuff from the west, its high time that we take a leaf out of their book and implement a better sporting culture in our country. You can invest as much money as you want, but to get consistent results in sports you need a solid sporting culture.

Some of my favorite ads -PART 1

The first ad that comes into my mind is the ones released by Bank Of India with the tag line "rishton ke jamapoonchi"(excuse spelling). It conveys a message that even though one can get every thing done without physically visiting the bank, it doesn't mean that the customers shouldn't visit them. They try to portray the bank and the customer as a part of a family.

There is one more ad that I liked, I could not find it now, will be uploading it as soon as i get the video

Its official - I AM HUMAN

Yesterday night as I was reading the flaws in Barak Obama's election campaign in my grand dad's house, i got an sms from a friend saying " our joining date came, August 28th, Chennai". At first I was like, ok cool. After a few seconds I got this really sick feeling that i am losing something thing. After another few seconds I was back to being cool. Called my friend up, talked about leaving and stuff, as my cell phone didn’t have much charge couldn’t talk for long. Before leaving home for my grand dad's house I saw that my cell didn’t have enough charge, but as I don’t get that many calls I decided not to take my charger. As luck would have it, I got the most no of sms's and phone calls yesterday since I took my cell.

After hanging up, I read the remaining part of the news paper, did some math and by 1:30 decided to go to sleep. After a few seconds, I couldn’t believe it. Me, Ken John Koshy, of all the people in the world. Mr. Tough guy, Mr. No Emotions, the person who always thinks in a logical fashion, who knows about the uncertainties and realities of life, who is realistic to the core, started to weep like a child who can not find its parent. I hadn’t cried like this in a long time, In fact I haven’t cried for that long a time that i forgot how to stop crying. I couldn’t breathe; water couldn’t stop falling from my eyes. Apparently this went on for more than 2 hours. I think the fact that so much violence is happening in India these days might have added to my sorrow.

After a while I was happy that I cried. I never had I thought that I would cry because a friend is leaving, after all it’s an eventuality. I always thought of my self to be emotional detached but from the information collected till now, I am the only fucking person who cried till now on this issue. The feeling that I got yesterday was a feeling I always wanted to get. It proved that I was a human being with feelings.

When I thought about this, this person was a friend of mine from the start of college. We had a love hate relationship, more of hate in the early years and more of love towards the later part. Never in the wildest dreams had I thought that I would be so said about the person leaving that I would sit and mop for 2 hours. She has given me many new experiences (nothing naughty), and this is the latest one. I have never in my life cried because I would miss something so badly. I am not sure how I will be passing my free time after 28th. When people in my college said they would miss college life and their friends, I was like; I won’t be missing any one. It’s a reality; we all have to part ways. Such feelings are either childish or artificial. Today I am saying I will miss all my friends :-<:-<:-<:((:((:((:(( What the fuck is wrong with me:((:((

Indian Politics

One of the things I do not like about India is the Indian political system. I am not talking about the corruption and various other evils within the system; I am talking about the basic system itself. We have a multiparty system here in India, which means there is no limit to the number of political parties that can be formed in India (of course, there are certain rules for forming a new party). There are pros and cons for this type of a system. The main advantage is that the people of the country will always be in power. As there are many political parties they would try their best to ensure that voters vote for them and hence nothing that will adversely affect the general public will be or can be done. The disadvantage is that no work can be done in the parliament.

As there are too many parties representing different parts of the country, the chances of a single political party getting the majority and forming the government is next to impossible. Hence the new formula in Indian politics is "coalition politics". A few parties which will have a few ideologies in common will join hands and fight elections. The disadvantage of this system is that there will be too many egos. The various parties that form the government would want a share of power. Since these political parties who join hands have only a few set of ideologies in common, when it comes to the remaining issues there will always be confrontation. As a result political stability can only be ensured if the political parties find a middle path for all the issues, which is not always good.

Unlike in the US, where the leader of the country is directly elected by the people and is the most powerful person in the country, here the leader of the country is elected indirectly and is far less powerful. In the US the people elect a person and give him the authority to lead the country. As a result the president is directly responsible for the decisions that he/she takes. Here to get a bill passed is next to impossible.

The main advantage of our system as I mentioned earlier is that people will never lose power. The disadvantage is that the people views can be manipulated by various political parties so that the people will turn against the government. There is far less stability in the government when compared to countries which directly elect their leader. The term "dirty politics" is magnified here. It’s very easy for the opposition to mislead the nation. The constitution of our country is taken for granted. According to the convenience of the people they follow and break various sections of the constitution.

Even though our present system has quite a few merits I feel that very soon the demerits will over weigh the merits. Just consider the recent things that happened in the parliament. Now changing the constitution so that more stability can be attained in the country is not going to happen. I believe that serious studies and debates are needed about the political system in India and a solution needs to be found so that we can move ahead and be one of the leading nations in the world. Without political stability the prospects of development is dim.

Private Investment Crucial

The only way that Indian can develop is if more and more private players invest in the development in India. Private players can range from big institutions to individuals. To depend on the government alone for development is hoping for the impossible to happen. Its simply not possible, especially for a vast and culturally diverse country like India. Even if the attitude of the investors is not to do good for others, at least for their selfish needs they have to do so. Our country is faced with rising inflation, lack of resources, lack of infrastructure, reservations and various other problems. The only way that we can solve all these problems is by tackling it at the root, and to do that we must all pitch in to develop our nation. The various sectors that come into my mind where we can pitch in are

• Agriculture
• Non conventional sources of energy
• Rain water harvesting and various other recycling processes
• Education
• Public Transport
• Health Care
• Protecting national monuments and natural wonders

The main crisis the world is facing is the shortage of food. 62% of India's population is employed in agriculture. Unfortunately this 62% contributes only to 18% of our GDP. Our farmers still use less efficient methods of farming and they lack the proper marketing skills to sell their product. Private players should introduce scientific methods of farming to the farming communities. This should increase the productivity and profits of the farmers. They should be introduced to efficient methods of irrigation, cultivation and harvesting. I had read an article somewhere about organic farmers having to sell their products for low prices because of lack of marketing. I believe the farming sector should work like a proper organization with finance, marketing, HR, operations and various other sections.

Another important crisis that India and the world is facing is the shortage of energy and the harmful effects the production of energy has on the environment. We should use our large terrains to help reduce this problem. Private companies should invest in solar and wind mill farms in the desserts of Rajasthan and various other places. The farmers in Rajastan face a serious energy and money shortage. This can be eliminated by using its natural resources to our advantage. Private investors should explore funding various other sources of energy. They could even use these energy sources for their private use.

"Reduce, Reuse and Recycle ", it should be made the new hip thing to do. When i look around I see people burning their wastes, throwing it on the ground etc etc. The whole waste collection system should be made more organized. Awareness should be given to the people ensuring them that the small amounts of money they pay for recycling will benefit them in the long run. A more scientific approach to waste collection should be done.
Rain water harvesting is another important issue. In a country where every year we face droughts, it crucial we don’t waste a single drop of water. Implementation of water harvesting in houses and public places such as roads should be looked into more seriously.

Education is the most crucial sector in terms of development of a country. It is a breading ground for a new generation of inspired people who would do what it takes to make a change. Private players should try and give free and quality education to the poorer sections of the society. Even though government is trying to do its best to do so, they can not ensure that the students get quality education. Lack of funds should never be a reason for a student quitting his studies.

Public Transportation is a very efficient way through which the congestion in roads as well as fuel consumption can be reduced. Having an efficient, reliable and a comfortable public transportation system ensures that more people would use it. Public transportation also reduces the pollution level in cities.

Health care is something that India tends to over look. Private investors can invest there money into R&D for the cure of various diseases. They can also ensure that more hospitals are built with proper facilities and ensure that a person should not die because he cannot afford treatment. Enough no of ambulances and various other services should be provided so that emergency calls can be attended in time

Tourism is a way through which the private sector can make money off directly. They should try and take care of the various monuments in the country and various other tourist spots. They can have there products advertised in the region and even charge a small entry fee for the visitors. They could open up stalls near the place, have some food stalls, and do what ever that is necessary to get some returns, without damaging the tourist spot. By doing so we are ensuring that our national heritage is preserved at the same time the tourism industry gets a lift.

The sectors in which the private players can invest/contribute to is endless. When I talk about invest here, it is more or else giving money to ensure that our nation develops. As a token of appreciation, the government should give tax exemptions to the private players and various other perks such as giving priority in various tenders etc. After all it cannot be just one way traffic. People who earn more should give something back to the society so that their children or for that matter they themselves can live a more peaceful and less problematic life, with less inflation and adequate amount of resources.

There is an editor

The "cash for vote" scandal was caught on tape with the help of the TV news channel "CNN-IBN". Even though when the MP's flashed currency notes in the Parliament, the channel refrained from showing the sting operation on television, instead handed over the full evidence to the Speaker. The channel later gave a press statement saying that the reason for not showing the footage was that, there were loops holes in the video, the evidence they had on tape was not concrete enough to prove that MP's were offered money. They also said that they did not want to sensationalize the issue which was, to their assessment not 100% credible, at such a critical juncture.

The way the channel handled the entire issue was commendable. The respect I have for the channel has increased because of this decision. At a time when news channels do not even think for one second before airing a report, trying to over hype/sensationalize issues without even getting the entire facts right just to have a slight edge over other rival channels, without thinking of the consequences of their action, CNN-IBN truly stands out. If they had aired the footage, the whole nation would have been watching their channel and the audience for other news channels would be next to nil. The brave decision took by the channel shows that ethics in journalism is not something of the past. It shows that there are still editors who think about the larger picture instead of short term gains.

If they had aired the footage people would have got influenced for sure. Even if the scam was later on found to be a scam, the reputation of the ruling parties would have had irreparable damages. I do not think any other news channel would have taken such a bold decision. At times when news channels enact stories about which it has no information about, god only knows what they would have done if they had got a story with little information in hand.

All news channels should take a cue from the actions of CNN-IBN, especially the Hindi news channels and channels like Headlines Today and Times Now. Journalist should understand the consequence of their actions. They should understand that any report aired will impact the entire nation. Far too often we have seen the above mentioned news channels air reports and few days down the line we find them to be misleading or false. I do believe that these news channels when they air such reports, they just want to make a name for themselves and do not have any other bad intention in mind. It's high time they started to act more responsibly. They should understand that what ever they say the nation will believe. The job of any news channel is to bring the truth to light and I believe all news channels are working on that principle. If there is the slightest of chance that a story can be false or misleading I believe that news channels should pull it off keeping in mind the larger interest of the nation/humanity. If news channels do not start to self regulate themselves in a more organized way they government would be forced to step in, which is not something any one wants

Irresponsible politics

Recently Sushma Swaraj of the BJP said that the terrorist attacks that happened were part of a conspiracy of the congress to shift the attention of the people from the "cash for vote" scandal. That was an absolutely irresponsible and uncalled for statement from a relatively senior politician. That was a kind of statement that could create communal violence.

Well I am not going to question the validity of her accusation. It may or may not be right, but come on, give me a break. I don’t think any political party in India would put the citizens of the country at harms way for such an insignificant matter. With only a few months left for the parliament to conclude the chances of that scam to be solved/settled were very less. The reason why I felt that the comment was so outrageous was that, the logic behind that was so stupid and ridiculous. If she had said that the congress is behind the attacks because it wants to undermine the BJP lead state governments so that it can win the upcoming elections, it would have looked a bit more viable.

I am pretty sure that she didn’t mean to start any communal riots with the statement of hers. It was just plane old dirty politics to get more votes. People from the BJP have been making similar volatile comments in the past and party had faced a lot of criticism and embarrassment. I remember either Venkayya Naidu or Arun Jaitley saying in a press conference that the population of Muslims have increased a lot and the Hindu population has not increased correspondingly and hence Hindus should try to increase there population so that normalcy can be maintained. Similar outrageous statements were made by L K Advani on the Babri Masjid, and how can one forget Narendra Modi. The one positive that I found among these people were, even though they had done crimes for which they can never be forgiven, they have learned from their mistakes and have refrained from making statements that could lead to riots.(not included Sushma Swaraj). Even if Muslims still face a hard time in Gujrat, Modi is doing all that he can to clear his name and ensure that he is taking a comparatively more secular stand.

The antics of the BJP is nothing compared that to what Raj Thackery and the Shiva Sena do in Maharashtra. They have this obsession with the word "Mumbai" and everything Marata. They take up insignificant issues such as valentines day or westernization of the state and act as its moral police. Right now Raj Thackery is over shadowing the Shiva Sena in terms of violence caused. His aim is simple, to get more and more marata votes and for that he will use any means necessary, including violating the basic human rights and the Indian constitution. To a certain extend I can understand his point about Mumbai getting overcrowded with non Maratis, but Mumbai is what it is now because of such a culture. Not quite sure why he doesn’t have much of a problem with outsiders occupying other parts of Maharastra. Him being adamant over the word "Mumbai", ordering all films not to use the word "Bombay" and asking Bombay dieing to change its name to Mumbai dieing is quite outrageous and unconstitutional. The kind of hate he is spreading misguides his supporters. Even though i agree that the "marata" cause is important, to cause violence in that name is not acceptable. Raj Thackery is trying to eat into the Shiva Sena vote bank and for that he is creating all this havoc.

Getting voters on its side is what all political parties should do, but to adopt any means to do so is not right. Just like business ethics is given a lot of importance these days, lot of emphasis should be given to political ethics. I believe that the Indian voter get more mature and reject all unethical, immoral ways political parties use to come into power. Its quite sad that in the land of the Mahatma people find that only violence is the answer to any problem.