MODI WINS PRIMARY

Bikash Choudhury

13 September 2013, Friday could go down in the contemporary history as
the day Narendra Modi wins Primary of his party for Prime Ministership
against a tough fight. And, without wasting a moment Modi started his
campaign in right earnest from Haryana. Coincidentally, Kurukhetra the
place of epic battle between Kauravas & Pandavas falls in the State
and the general election of 2014 would not be any less than that epic
battle. Both Congress and BJP are battle ready; Congress in spite of
anti incumbency of 10 yrs expected to give a tough fight with its
populist strategy and real politic. BJP after remaining in wilderness
of opposition benches for last ten years is baying for blood/ power at
any cost; which is going to make this election very interesting to
watch out for; as both the parties are not going to leave any stone
unturned. And, regional parties at their respective strong hold going
to make the life and lives of two National parties that much more
difficult. Election of 2014 is not going to be just another election
to choose another Govt.; but, it is going to be one that would choose
a govt. that could have tryst with India’s destiny in this century.
Congress Party got an opportunity for ten long years on a platter and
wasted it to a large extent as the country finds itself in an economic
quagmire; net result of poor governance.
Congress Yuvraj say’s “Pura pet Roti Khao ourr Congress Lao” eat roti
full stomach and bring back Congress; the Congress Strategy centered
around populist scheme like Food Security, Direct Cash Transfer and
Vendor Protection; which are all excellent plans with noble intent;
but, it remains to be seen if electorate after suffering from
corruption and price rise for ten years give a thumps up to the vote
catching plan of Congress Party or not.
BJP in contrast pinning its hope on its most popular leader Narendra
Modi; who has managed to attract youth, as much with his clean and
efficient administration as for his inspiring stump speeches laced
with humor and sarcasms mostly directed at Congress Party and its
leadership. It is one thing to cheer crowds in political rallies and
quite another to make them vote for your party; which no body
understands more than Modi, who has won three back to back election in
Gujarat. “Emotion and Passion” as an election strategy could romp BJP
back home; as Rajiv Gandhi once won three fourth majority in Loksabha
on a sympathy wave soon after the death of Mrs. Indira Gandhi.
Modi strategist par excellence is using emotion and passion to his
advantage in all his public outings. He has also understood; one can’t
run India while antagonizing any community, howsoever, small it may
be. And, therefore he is making consistent attempt to get buy in from
those communities through ‘sadbhavana’ events; but, that may not be
enough. In this case one need to strike at the bottom of the whole
issue- and that is lack of social interaction between two prominent
communities which some times create fear and therefore human
tragedies. This can be corrected by initiating a social dialogue which
would make tokenism that much more difficult. Modi also knows
“Nationalism” appeals to all and therefore he is trying to connect
with ex-defense personnel; if he could recreate “Quit India” movement
once again to bring development to the country and country side; then
his job is done. But, by how much? That time will only say.


Twitter: @ideasofhope Blog: www.ideasofhopebikash.blogspot.com
E-mail:streben.market@gmail.com
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WHAT HAS GONE WRONG WITH INDIAN MEN UNDER THE BELT?

BIKASH CHOUDHURY



Belief, Faith and Relationship have all gone for a toss at the altar
of ‘desire’? Asharam Bapu was arrested recently in a midnight swoop
from his Indore Asram allegedly for his ‘sexual misdemeanor’ with a
minor girl of his own ashram school and parents of the victim were his
devotees. This was perhaps not only a case of breach of trust
compounded with sexual assault of perverse kind; with respect to the
huge age difference between the accused and the victim. There were
other cases of similar kind from other parts of the country; wherein,
a 4 year old victim sexually assaulted by  two policemen and in
another case a grown up girl exploited by her father and brother for 9
years. Apart from these incidents, there are scores of such cases
being reported on a daily basis in the news papers with hapless women
on the streets, on public transport, and inside the four walls of
homes and offices. Apparently, no place remain safe and even, there
are chances of almost every man turning an offender against fare sex.
What has actually gone wrong? What has changed so abruptly? That man
no longer seeks privacy to establish physical contact with their
respective partners; which, even animals prefer.

It is now not the case of law alone; though, ineffective laws, poor
enforcement and shoddy policing could be one of the principal reasons
for ever growing incidents of violation of women’s body and mind. But,
there must be other reasons too, to explain the quantum and quantity
of such incidents in recent times.

What immediately comes to a naked eye is the ‘overtly sexual content’
freely available across the media platforms on 24x7 basis and
accessible without any bias to age or class. This could be fuelling
desire and reason for spurt of violence against women. Secondly, with
growing awareness, economic in-equality and social deprivation may be
responsible in part for the behavior of boys living on streets and in
the slums as they tend to revolt against the system and prevailing
situation of their lives by displaying their ‘sense of power’  with
assault on women who are much higher in their social standard. Spoilt
rich kids also do the same for experimentation as shown in the movie
“Damini”. Therefore, solution for such a complex problem can’t be just
a better law, its enforcement or policing; but, a long and tortuous
path of ‘Social Engineering’ of a right kind.

MR. PRIME MINISTER—THANKS.

                                                          Bikash Choudhury

Prime Minister Mr. Man Mohan Singh said while returning from the G-20 summit “Rahul Gandhi would be a good candidate for Prime Minister Position after General Election 2014 and he would like to work under his leadership in the Congress Party”. This statement may not have gone down well with the leadership of Congress party; as this could have been like ‘adding further insult to injury’, knowing very well that next election may not go in the favor of Congress party. Therefore, Rahul Gandhi wishes to kill two birds with one stone; with his blatant and vociferous criticism of UPA Govt. on the ‘ordinance on convicted law makers’ while PM was on an important tour of USA and UNGA. Apparently, PM was given an impolite but clear signal to move on and other objective being to cut losses, with growing public opinion against the ordinance; which seems to be ultra virus against the constitution. Once again, this is an attempt by Congress Party and Rahul Gandhi to play to the galleries; however, this should be welcomed by all concerned, as Govt. and Congress Party chose to correct an error in judgment publicly.

By the time PM returns to the country, there would be vociferous chores in the Congress Party about bringing Rahul as PM and save Congress; which could make Mr. Singh go week on the knees and resign voluntarily, making  way for an interim PM who could bring a sizeable vote bank to the table. As Rahul is not too keen on the job; eventually, that may go the way of Mrs. Meira Kumar, incumbent speaker of Lok Sabha and a dalit leader and that too an ‘woman’. That should bring both dalit and women vote to Congress Party’s coffers. The plan is impeccable with a ‘strategic’ intent; but, will it work remains to be seen at a future date.         

Twitter: @ideasofhope Blog: www.ideasofhopebikash.blogspot.com  E-mail:streben.market@gmail.com

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POLITCAL POLARISATION ON GENDER

Political parties and politicians in India have played “vote bank” politics since independence. They have attempted to polarize electorates on the basis of religion, region and caste; however, they have scrupulously left the ‘gender’ based polarization. The growing violence against women across the country which has thus far defied any permanent solutions asks for an ‘All Women Political Party’ to polarize the voters on the basis of ‘gender’. If nothing else, this should wake up political parties from their deep slumber on the issue of ‘safety’ of women in the country who constitute 49% of our population.

Bikash Choudhury, Bhubaneswar 

OBAMA SOLD HIS SOUL TO ARMS LOBBY?

BIKASH CHOUDHURY

Millions of people across the world prayed for the second term of
Barak Obama as US President. People strongly believe, even today that
Obama, unlike many US Presidents is not a war monger. Apparently, he
was critical on American war in Iraq and worked towards a pull out of
Afghanistan by 2014. It was genuinely expected that Obama would unveil
his formulation towards ‘Global Peace’ in his second term as President
of USA; to keep tryst with his winning of ‘Noble Peace Prize’ at the
beginning of his first term in office. Keeping in view of Economic
hardship in his first term, people generally excused him for not
attempting any thing significant to reduce tension, violence and
theaters of war and march towards peace as his time was being consumed
in fire fighting to save the American economy; which, he did
successfully and for which he got land slide victory in his second
term. Now seven months to his second term he did precious little to
resolve conflicts in the Middle East; as Palestine- Israel standoff
remain static and violence is consuming lives in other parts of the
region as never before; that is one of the principal failures of
Global economy.

One was expecting that Obama administration would take some meaningful
steps towards resolving the conflict in civilization and religion that
often leads to war between Nations and also reason for terrorism &
violence across the world. US President could have taken initiative to
unite the “Global Society” through interaction between religion, race
and region while promoting art, craft, culture and literature in
Global Scale. Economy is just a subset of society and therefore, by
uniting the global society there is high degree of probability to
strengthen the Global Economy which is in recession in large parts.

In contrast, US President is getting ready for limited strike in Syria
on use of chemical weapons against its own people. Without clinching
evidence and without sanctions of security council it would not only
be illegal but also immoral to go for a unilateral military strike
against a sovereign Nation the outcome of which could be very
unpredictable and much more frightening as the region of middle east
going through one of its most divisive and violent times with very
complex relationship between Nations on the premise of different sects
of Islam. Already, Iraq is suffering with daily sectarian violence
ignited by American intervention. Can Obama administration afford to
repeat the mistakes of former US President, Bush Junior.? The passion
with which Obama is pursuing the military strike against Syria and
persuading the allies and G-20; it seems he has sold his soul to
American Arms lobby who stand to benefit from the war. As more war
would bring them more sales and therefore more profit; however, the
World would become poorer with one more US President who hold great
hope on a Peaceful World.

WHY ADVANIJI SHOULD MOVE ON?

·       ADVANIJI TOOK THE MORAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR NDA DEFEAT AFTER 2009 ELECTION AND ANNOUNCED HIS RETIREMENT FROM ACTIVE POLITICS.

·       ADVANIJI OPPOSING HIS OWN PROTÉGÉ FOR LEADERSHIP COULD BE SEEN AS POWER BROKING AND WOULD BE AGAINST HIS IMAGE OF SENIOR STATES MAN.

·       ADVANCING AGE OF ADAVANIJI MAY NOT BE IN THE INTEREST OF HIS HEALTH TO TAKE UP LEADERSHIP ROLE HIMSELF.

·       PEOPLE AND PARTY CADRES ARE VYING FOR A YOUNG, BOLD AND DYNAMIC LEADERSHIP.

·       ADVANIJI BUILT THE PARTY FROM SCRATCH AND CAN’T BE SEEN AS THE DESTROYER OF HIS OWN LEGACY.

·       ADVANIJI SHOULD MOVE ON GRACEFULLY TO MAKE SPACE FOR YOUNGER LEADERSHIP.

·       IF BJP WINS THE POLL IN 2014; HE COULD TAKE UP A CONSULTATIVE ROLE AS CHAIRMAN OF NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL.  

Hindu Spirituality & Sex

 Appreciate ToI carrying a contrarian view on a very sensitive subject like this. The land of Kamasutra could not have compartmentalized spirituality and sex- which actually stands for love and intimacy between two consenting adults. Indian temple architecture has always depicted love-sex-intimacy between men and women of those times as seen in Khajuraho and Konark temple; however, there was one marked difference in those pictures that of happiness emanating from an act of free consent; while, the omissions and commissions of “Asharam Bapu” was not with consent and against the law of the land as the girl in the case was minor and therefore by no stretch of imagination “Hindu Spirituality” can be invoked in the case. Rather, breach of trust involved in the case makes the crime of a saint like “Asharam Bapu” much more heinous that asks for deterrent and punititive punishment.

Bikash Choudhury, Bhubaneswar        

HOW TO REVIVE INDIAN ECONOMY?

Bikash Choudhury

Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh is blatantly misleading the Nation on Economy; as an ace economist himself must know that at this stage Indian economy could get much worse, before it could get better as all the vital parameters of the patient in the ICU points towards looming disaster. But, the Prime Minister is constrained to hide facts about his own gross incompetence in managing the Governance of the Country which is one of the principal reasons for disastrous economic performance of the Nation. First of all, he was chosen for the position as he was the politically light weight and even failed to secure his own parliamentary election from Delhi; which suits the political leadership of the Congress Party. However, of late senior leader Digvijaya Singh aired his views in public “the dual centre of power is not working”; wily politician that he is can’t be more right. At the moment Cabinet Colleagues and the Council of Ministers have lost complete faith on the Prime Minister and Top Bureaucracy lost confidence on the Govt. therefore the decision making apparatus of union Govt. has gone into limbo which is reflected in sliding investor’s confidence and deepening exchange value of the rupee against US Dollar. The bravado of Prime Minister in Parliament that economy could return to growth in the next quarter is much like astrologer’s prediction and not based on facts. The strength of any economy represents the ‘intensity of human activity’ in the country; when, the Govt. being one of the principal actors of the economy in Limbo with Policy paralysis; where and how the growth momentum would return to the economy in the next quarter? However, intensity of human activity at the present juncture could be restored in large measure by going for snap general election by the end of the year which could save the economy partially. The other important step that our Prime Minister could take is to order all his ministries, more specifically the infrastructure related departments to burn the midnight oil to clear all asset creating projects through a high powered standing committee that sits every day to clear projects and monitor the implementation with existing and unspent budget provisions; subsequently, PM could get the Chief Minister of States to do the same in their domain to revive the growth sentiment; while persuade private sector to earmark 1% of profits in Innovation & Entrepreneurship inside their own organizations to create new value propositions and help create a robust environment for economic growth. Further, Govt. could take up the development of civic amenities in four metros, give emphasis on value added Agriculture through organic farming, converting the organic waste into compost in urban areas with the help of fertilizer companies, give fresh impetus to Ganga Action Plan to make it navigation ready and reviving the In land river highways and coastal navigation to cut logistic cost. If prime minister him self can’t travel and connect with young India in university campuses; at least he could depute young and articulate ministers to galvanize students behind Nation building. PM could even appeal to Non-Resident Indians to organize and contribute resources, technology and management depth for large public projects. Adam Smith in his “Wealth of Nations” emphasized on division of labor and specialization for opulence of Nation States. Therefore, India could rely on its old civilization and rich art, craft, culture, handicraft, literature, traditions, food and textiles to export with American style branding and distribution to generate wealth for the country in the long run.

Twitter: @ideasofhope Blog: www.ideasofhopebikash.blogspot.com  E-mail:streben.market@gmail.com

Mobile: 009853426657/009238912647 Address:flat # 105 Kalpataru Nivas(apartment) Patia Bhubaneswar Odisha INDIA-751024