Aam Aadmi Party's Anarchy

Posted by Dr. Gopal Unnikrishna Kurup

Aam Aadmi Party's Anarchy.

 It may be some time before Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) realizes the damage wrought to its image by the anarchist dharna they staged in Delhi, thoughtlessly forgetting themselves, forgetting the aam aadmi, and forgetting the constitutional position and responsibilities held by its ministers. But people will not forget the potentially great damage to the rule of law and civic order in the capital city of India that loomed large while it lasted. People have also marked in mind AAP's utter arrogance, the rowdy language, and the insolent contempt they exhibited towards the observance of Republic Day. They have now branded themselves as a third-rate band of morons totally devoid of propriety and civility, not to speak of any governance capability. They are now self-confessed anarchists.

AAP's main plank as a political party was anti-corruption crusade and they were able to instill an impression among people long suffering from corruption that they are obsessed with it , and that only a party singularly obsessed with anti-corruption spirit could combat the menace effectively. But what was the performance they displayed immediately after the elections that catapulted them to the second place in the run? They had declared in pre-election time that they as a political party are holier and purer than mainstream parties and the latter being corrupt are untouchables to them. No truck with any of them. But the moment Congress, the most corrupt of all  and therefore the most untouchable, literally offered its hand in support, they decided to grab it in order to occupy the coveted power chair. That one act itself had made them polluted in their own terms , a betrayer not to be trusted anymore, and as bad as any others, when it comes to breaking own words.

Having climbed to power laterally and on the shoulders of Congress, they found themselves prisoners of their untenable promises made recklessly in the activist mode, while further handicapped by inexperience. Tinkering of the establishment by greenhorns could result only in gimmickry and counterfeits. They thrust their hands deep in to people's pocket( the exchequer) and picked enough money to pay the companies as subsidy, bought some current and water and offered it back to the people as their freebies. This was charlatanism. Companies were happy. If this is the way AAP is going to govern they are more than welcome, said the companies. And people found to their dismay that the so called freebies had gone straight to the rich who were laughing merrily as only the rich can laugh at gimmicks.

If we come to power Sheila Dikshit and coterie and all the  scamsters will find themselves in prison, Kejriwal had thundered pre-election. Instead he found himself a prisoner of Shela Dikshit and coterie and at their mercy in sustaining his life in power.  Having tasted power and already  feeling  distasteful without it , the Congress sins had suddenly become invisible for him. All of a sudden he wanted proof, yes proof for believing Congress is corrupt and 'untouchable'. As many people are saying, Kejriwal is the biggest liar at
present in stock in India.

The Lofty Lotus and the Earthy Broom

Posted by Dr. Gopal Unnikrishna Kurup

 The Lofty Lotus and
 the    Earthy Broom

 What do the recent Assembly election results say loud and clear?  What kind of a phenomenon is this apparition called Arvind Kejriwal?

The election results unequivocally declare that good governance can, and will, over run the handicap of incumbency, even over sustained periods. Two of the three states where BJP won have been under long spells of governance by the BJP satraps. Instead of strutting around haughtily like vain cocks, crowing to the world and preening their own feathers, as some self-appointed Congress satraps do, they only spoke when they were expected to, and thus proved to be doers rather than talkers only.

The muddled signals from Chhattisgarh could have been clearer if only Maoists had not deliberately caused the muddle, dastardly picking off the tribal Congress leader, at a time close to the then impending elections. Irrespective of the question whether the govt. could have prevented the Maoist atrocity of that assassination, the Chief Minister Raman Sing had to pay a heavy price for the lapse, almost becoming a loser. When elections loom large, all the hawks and vultures hover and gather close and Maoists were no exceptions who  marauded and mined extensively the jungles of Bastar. Most of the affected states are still ill-equipped to deal with Maoist's predatory style and savagery of attack. This is in spite of all the inputs by the Central govt too.

In Madhya Pradesh, however, incumbency or no incumbency, what we witnessed was a digvjay by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, his unstoppable chariot running on well-oiled wheels smoothly and comfortably, flying the saffron flag fluttering in the easily blowing wind, made cooler by the Modi effect. And most befittingly the appreciative people of the state gave him a massive mandate matching fully his mindful governance, and  brushing aside the belated intervention and stemming attempts by the scion of Scindia royals, Jyotiraditya Scindia. Incidentally, Scindias wrote a story of their own feudal feuds in the elections arena too, the scion faltering, and the Maharani moving on a massive juggernaut to storm and take the state almost entirely in her hands.

Still reverently addressed by people as 'Maharani', Vasundhara Raje Scindia had a free run in the state, governed badly and haphazardly by the somewhat clueless Ashok Gehlot. His Gandhian facade did not assuage the sufferings of his people and his muddled  measures of appeasement some time and meddling at other time had antagonized minorities. Vasundharaji just went, visited and conquered the state. Congress men  didn't even know what hit them till the polls foretold and the results confirmed.

Well well, now the story of the stories, the Delhi elections. No one knew what hit one or another there till the results came incredulously on the screens. The recently arrived apparition found haunting for sometime the maidans, avenues , and free spaces of the Capital city, the very Lutyens' Delhi". of avant-garde clubs, boutiques, perfumed exclusives, the  commuters, all shivering in their spines in fear of bludgeoning sexual rippers, inexplicably turned a phenomenon of election proportions. The phenomenon of Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) simply plucked Delhi's three-time Chief Minister and snatched her wooden cabinet away, put her in it and send her home.

Flabbergasted politicos, parties, and people looked with awe at the broom-wielding brigade hooded in Anna caps, and strangely reminiscent of the vanishing tribe of manual cleaners. AAP then came menacingly close  to sweep away the  mighty BJP, the party that was straddling like a colossus in other three states, from any reckoning as the largest single party, but just stopped short. In the process AAP has now hung the  party governance of  Delhi in mid air. Both the main players are now refusing to touch Delhi governance.

What are the strands that catapulted the AAP in to a game changer in the hard dried out war grounds of Delhi State where the motherly face of Sheila Dikshit reigned for one and a  half decade?. Well, the bad  governance insensitive to unbearable  rise  in prices and cost of living , unmitigated insecurity feeling, all round corruption. unpopular anti- people measures  are all obvious reasons for the antipathy to Congress. But the question remains : why AAP  and not the BJP all the way? How all of a sudden the novice  AAP garnered such a big chunk of votes to emerge as the second biggest party.enabling it to put up a blockbuster debut performance?

I have only an unconventional answer, perhaps befitting the uncommon phenomenon. It is their symbol, the broom, and the  broom making Daliths, whose life-stay it is, and the real broom-wielding brigade of the gender class of women,  the girls, house wives, the mothers - the same groups that sustained Sheila Dikshit, but antagonized this time. Being in the hot vicinity of national politics, drawn innocuously in to the thick and thin of it, the Delhi aam admi is a volatile activist. The reactive response to this volatile activism has now seems to have permeated in to the homes too, raising the women folk out of their TV serials and idle gossip. One may again ask here why this newly, more than usually awakened constituency spread all over in the Delhi homes emerged and flocked even to late polling hours of election day evening, to AAP and not BJP? The answer is: the fresh faces in AAP, in juxtaposition to the jaded, tired and just tolerated old junkies, the BJP fielded. Harsh Vardhan, utterly sincere, is an exception who could still be the leader..

And there lies the golden moment of recognition and salvation for BJP, not only for Delhi but for the ensuing Parliamentary elections as well. Field fresh faces; need not be entirely new but relatively fresh and somewhat evidentially promising. Narendra Modiji, are you listening?

In Delhi, any time the Lieut. Governor might march in. If BJP takes to heart the above golden fact,  the Delhiites might have to throw the dice only once again to have a government, and not again perhaps.

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Swetha Menon And Body sanctity.

Posted by Dr. Gopal Unnikrishna Kurup


Swetha Menon and Body Sanctity

 In Kerala, blessed as this Indian state is with strikingly beautiful water scenery, many breath- taking boat races are conducted in different parts when the rain gods fill its enchantingly  beautiful water bodies during the south west monsoon, and as usual  the coastal municipal town of Kollam(Quilon) conducted its annual boat race on 1st Nov. 2013. It is customary that some crowd pulling and popular figure is invited as chief guest to grace the occasion and this time the organizers  decided to supplement scenic beauty with a good dose filmy glamour. The invitee was Swetha Menon a film and serial actress cum TV anchor, lately of fame for the gimmick of having filmed and exhibited her primiparous child delivery live for the benefit of movie going people. She arrived, clapped waved cheered ,and pleasantly left, and having got home, as only women can explain, kicked back to send a bomb shell alleging that a senior Congress Member of Parliament Shri Peethambara Kurup( nearing 70)who chaperoned her in the function had molested her while jostling in the crowd. In spite of the fact that TV footage showed only some jerky rubbing of shoulders with her by him, perhaps in his anxiety for standing shoulder to shoulder with Malluwood  in the ensuing general elections!.it was a bolt from the blue for an already infighting and debilitate Congress, and manna from heaven for the media and a very handy hatchet for the cutting left. Both the latter went to town, the savory news spilling over the Ghats and getting splashed all over the Indian media. The left smelled blood and sharpened the teeth while the media smacked its lips with pleasure. The back to the wall and anguished MP protested and professed his innocence sprinkling it with a dash of apology and empathy. Soon the waves inundated cyber world and the Facebook. Pushed hard, the govt. announced an inquiry and  the police went ahead for preparation of a FIR. And in late evening on Sunday came the news that the holier than Swetha Menon had backtracked  and decided not to push the matter further making much of a speech of apology by the M.P. in the TV. Obviously Swetha took a bite too big to chew. The Congress youth brigade had meanwhile promised to make life and career miserable for her.
 
  The Swetha Menon episode raises some thoughts as well as questions. Why did it happen that there was no unanimous condemnation of the incident, but on the contrary people took sides?  Normally if it becomes clear that a hapless woman was publicly humiliated there would have been a chorus of public outcry and indignation. But in Swetha's case people took sides. And in the end, it appears to me that it was she who was severely mauled and bruised more, much more, than her alleged detractor, -  so much to the disappointment of his political opponents who had immediately smelled pay- dirt and were preparing to dig in and go to town on that.

We react, as discerning people, differently in varying contexts. No template of behavior with a universal fit can determine human conduct in differing contexts. It is, if any thing, a broad  code of conduct envisaging a set of alternatives. These in their turn are riveted much like in a serial, to the projected nature of the characters of the actors, other personae involved and also the orchestration, which again are influenced drastically by the antecedents of the central actors. Imagine if it were someone like Manju Warrier or Kavya Madhavan  bearing the brunt of unwanted attention and intimacy, then whoever had the audacity of inflicting that and infringing the honor of their bodies would have been hauled over the burning coal by the public without serious dissent. Of course, an offense is an offence irrespective of the character of the victim, I agree and also uphold the dictum; but to me it is perfectly natural and expected that the reactions will diverge when the alleged victim is controversial and the alleged villain is one beyond reproach till then. To confound the matter further, the script comes on rather hazy and confusing, leaving much space for all kinds of interpretations and allegations of conspiracy based on the contradictions that are galore. Like Swetha's visible behavior till the end, which is one of enjoying the occasion to the core and happily going back, courteously taking leave and departing pleasantly. No distraught face, suppressed indignation and storming out. This left room for unsuspecting and incredulous people to entertain the suggestion that her subsequent volte- face to throw up insinuations was an after-thought and a put on, either for publicity which is life breath for actors, or that it was at the behest of vested interests. Or, to be more charitable to her, the reported antics of the unwanted unsolicited escorts of locals  back on way to the car must have caused to blow up her ire to loom larger than life and to merge in to it the entire occasion. Women often excel in the process of imparting reality to their fears, and some times even  to their desires.

A lesson Swetha might have learned, I hope, is that it is as much a crime as her allegations could have been, in the volatile public life of Kerala to besmirch the character and assassinate a career, especially a blameless one so far, of a senior man in public life on insufficient grounds, in this case, even if true, nothing more than any non-celebrity woman daily faces in our public transport. Not that those annoyances have to be tolerated, but usually they are these days controlled by a stern look and or warning. And least of all by a Swetha, who had nonchalantly carried out the ultimate exposure of body any woman can make or dreading to make ( it was not a call of duty) and one who now most unabashedly hugs or draws men to her body, wrapping arms around their shoulders and as seen once , even caressing the slightly protruding tummy of strangers, in TV shows. These days of  woman empowerment and it's stringent laws there could be  something like molestation by woman, and every politician is scared now that any determined woman can trample their reputation built assiduously over their entire life in one nightmarish moment.

Feminists and women in general who make shrill cries for gender equality should understand that a semblance of equality can be achieved only in some restricted fields like certain social and  service sectors; in any case  not in biology and psychology dependent sectors  As far as the educated urban middle class is concerned, In India, legally gender equality, and recently with all the woman empowering laws, even an edge over the male gender have already been achieved. If the disparities persist it is largely due to the fact that our women have not yet freed themselves fully from their traditional mindset, and by their own volition, continue to be its prisoners. So here it remains mainly an issue of under utilization of avenues open to women and also one of subconscious desire to remain at the comfort level of patriarchal dependency and protection.. Men are prepared to lend them indulgence both in equality demand as well as my fair lady's coy dependency desire, but if they insist on carrying along dependency desire too then they should know that it will amount to legitimization of patriarchy. Mind you,  it is the patriarchy that instilled a sense of differential sanctity of the body, woman's being vastly more sanctimonious than that of man. Here the patriarchy was only recognizing and obeying the matriarchal bidding of mother nature that the reproductive cost for and investment by the woman are far heavier than those of man. This is what makes the man a daring entrepreneur and woman a shy cautious capital.

If the women say gender equality embraces body sanctity then Swetha is as guilty of indiscriminate molestation  in the past as much as the accused she put on the mat and almost on the dock.

Secularizing The Religion

Posted by Dr. Gopal Unnikrishna Kurup

Secularizing The Religion

Mahatma Gandhi said: “If I were a dictator, religion and state would be separate. I swear by my religion. I will die for it. But it is my personal affair. The state has nothing to do with it. The state would look after your secular welfare, health, communications, foreign relations, currency and so on, but not your or my religion. That is everybody's personal concern!”. But what is happening in India is that instead of keeping one's religion personal, every politician is using it for his own benefit. They fail to see that alternative to their bad religion or their take of religion, is not secularism, which every bad religionist is using for playing hide and seek. Just as leftists used ideology as opposed to values, the pseudo secularist is using secularism to cover bad religion. Has any one of them put religion behind him? Scratch any of them and you can see communalism under their skin.

The religionists need to be reminded that you can secularise your religion with or without spiritualizing your life. Instead of waiting for that happening to you, you should seek it to happen in you. One should gradually start synchronizing the thinking ,beliefs, commitments, and practices to the pattern of this age rather than to the medieval. It is easy for the Hindus but may be not so easy for the semitic religions who believe that each one of theirs is the God's word, unalterable., For them the universe is no democracy as it is for the Hindus, it is a monarchy. Only Hindus have nothing like the last word, but instead have the principle of universal dynamics where there is no finish..

The Persians had no sound or letter for  'S' but used instead 'H' for these in their language, so they called the great riverine Sindhu people and civilization, world's earliest culture, as Hindu. That got wide currency in rest of the world west of Bharathavarsha that is India now, and whoever came from the west used the name known to them already. Later on, Sindhu river was known in Greek as Indus from which came the English name, India.This was in a way good because the earliest civilization got a name for itself; the earliest civilization had no use for a name, it was indeed  the mankind and the world. Christ never created any religion; Christianity was created by others in his name. By the time of Christ there were plenty of others, but in Sindhu people's rather primordial times only they were there as the Manu, the thinking animal, ( Manu>Man, Adi>Adam, all came from sanskrit ), others being  not far away from having come from the stage of brachiation from tree to tree.

That is why you don't find the term for this way of living, or the word Hindu in the Vedas, although there are references to Sanathana Dharma. Dharma, not math, mind you. It was the life one should do, his duty, not one of the ways, the math. Get it?

So when we say Hindutwa, it is actually Sindhutwa or Indianness. In order to be a complete or even better Indian, one has to synchronize oneself with this Indian ethos. Reactionaries are attacking this concept, turned in to demand, under open skies and broad daylight shining bright in India unlike in many theocratic nations. Reactionaries who have treated their own kinds in the most despicable way wherever they hold the sway. And our working -class heroes are no exception who behave like so many dogmatic idiots..

The pseudo secularist should learn that secularism is not loss of faith. It is a loss of political interest in the world of faith. they should also understand that in the  Indianness, religion is irrelevant in the common way of life. It is only the Indian ethos all the way.

The Super Prime Minister, Sonia Gandhi, the Congress Goddess.

Posted by Dr. Gopal Unnikrishna Kurup

The Super Prime Minister, Sonia Gandhi, the Congress      Goddess.

The then Union Minister for Tribal Affairs, Kantilal Bhuria, in February 2010, received a letter from Congress party president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, offering some suggestions on the Forest Rights act then under formation and asking for his response. Bhuria did not respond with alacrity to this extra-governmental source of instructions and when he was bombarded with reminders, he finally in June responded negatively, not accepting the suggestions. The knave Minister who foolishly deluded himself that as minister he had the authority to take decisions in matters concerned with his portfolio, even in recommendations by the Madam, was soon to pay dearly for his gall to reject the 'recommendations'. In the Cabinet reshuffle the next month, Bhuria was unceremoniously sacked. In his place was appointed V Kishore Chandra Deo, who knowing what was required of him, promptly took on board the “suggestions” from on top, which eventually made it into law.

These happenings have been revealed from documents obtained under R.T.I. ( by Economic Times) which go to show to what extent Sonia Gandhi is involved in minutiae of policy matters and with what exertions she imposes her will in pushing them through the government and also punishing whoever offends her in the way. It also exposes to what mockery the prime Minister is reduced to and who really rules the roost. The R.T.I. documents also showed that in that year, Prime Minister got bombarded with 25 N.A.C.letters and individual Ministers with not less than 17 letters, all urging the recipients to toe her line. Although the letters are purported to be from NAC and signed by her as its chairperson everyone knows that they in fact embody Sonia's commandments couched in more civil form as "recommendations'.


All the revenue guzzling grandiose social security schemes are Sonia's flagship schemes designed to be populist even at the cost of national exchequer, and by riding on them to secure votes in elections. Whenever the next election is looming  in the horizon, there is bound to be a flurry of such populist bills, and schemes, - only this time, the game had started much earlier. Food Security Bill is one such, toppling the budget and widening the fiscal deficit at a time when the nation can ill afford it.

National Advisory Council is nothing but Sonia Gandhi's backyard kitchen where such fast food items are cooked up.  From the leafy bungalow, 2 Motil Lal Marg nestled inside the Lutyen's zone, the Council quietly operates under her matron-ship giving her an aura of tenability, and most conveniently, without accountability. Such arrangement affords her the escape facility to remain anonymous if things go awry  and send her son and heir to throne, Rahul Gandhi to land on the scene with Jupiter's velocity and bomb out her own government, which had merely done what she had said, but now the wrong-doer before the people ( but mind you, not she).

Of course,it was from its pantry during UPA 1 that NREGA, RTI, Prevention of Domestic Violence and Forest Rights Bills were conceived. It did set the social political agenda of the UPA. It gave the UPA 1 a pro-poor image and edge, which ultimately won them the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. But then, NAC of UPA 1 was  very different from NAC of UPA 2. There was a Common Minimum Programme and lot of committed people were in the body and the allies had a say. Allies monitored the suggestions. But now, none of the sort. ,NAC has turned in to solely an extra-constitutional body impacting the sovereignty of the decision-making process of the Union Cabinet. The PM has voice which he seldom uses, but no power -perhaps the reason why he seldom says anything.

The power behind the throne, the Super Prime Minister, Sonia Gandhi, the resident behind the high walls of 10, Janpath is the ultimate authority who must be obeyed, but who hovers beyond all notions of accountability.

The Theater Of The Absurd

Posted by Dr. Gopal Unnikrishna Kurup

 The Theater of the Absurd

 

 

 With a dogged resolve of a crass politician, Sonia Gandhi presides over the political decision making  core group of Congress party, and much against the wind of public sentiments and also much against the sane opinion of a minority inside the group (that included  Veerappa Moily), and aided and abetted by hustlers like Kapli Sibal, triumphantly decides to defy the Supreme Court, and to bring in an ordinance on the bill  to save the convicted MPs marauding in her party and in  UPA as law makers.  On July 10, the Supreme Court had ruled that an MP or MLA would be immediately disqualified if convicted by a court in a criminal offense with a jail sentence of two years or more The immediate imperative was that Lalu Prasad, her staunch ally might meet his nemesis and  be consigned to the cattle manger of a hefty term of imprisonment that could call curtains for his political life. Greatly concerned, her core group decides to rescue Lalu the ally by proclaiming hurriedly an ordinance on the bill and thus outwit the court verdict. Prime Minister and his cabinet carried out the core group's directive to the letter, and gave shape to The Representation of the People (Amendment and Validation) Ordinance, 2013 allowing convicted MPs and MLAs to continue in office if their appeal is admitted by a higher court within 90 days and the conviction stayed, which was then dispatched to the President for signing.

The  BJP who initially had gone along with the bill, now sensed the strong ground swell of public sentiments that had already turned into a whooping gale against any such move to protect criminal politicians, simply backtracked and  tried to stall the bill by causing it to be sent to a standing committee. They then proceeded to oppose  the totally untenable ordinance tooth and nail, and even met the President urging him not to sign it. Then came the blow which the dynasty never reckoned with. The President,-their erstwhile man of all seasons - however  gave clear indication that he is not happy with either the ordinance, or the proposed bill.

For the first time since Indira Gandhi's confrontation with the "syndicate", the dynasty's might was shaken and the Congress party  embroiled in another devastating doldrums, this time almost fatal. The dynasty decided to jump out of the sinking boat on to terra firma and leave the captain and the crew to its fate. The jump was as sudden and dramatic as the criticality of the situation demanded. The prince hates being caught wet and soiled. So he shook himself dry and declared to the effect that having watched the whole episode through a pair of binoculars from a long distance in Delhi," my opinion is that the ordinance is nonsense and it should be torn up and thrown away" ..[ ie. before the President  does so ].

Fair-minded people may ask even if the dynasty found that the ordinance which they chaperoned is backfiring, it could have quietly pulled the strings on the govt. to withdraw it. They should realize  that the dynasty saw the resultant fiasco back lashing on them more than the govt and the PM, who are already discredited anyway.  They were scared to their wit's end that people will see that the dynasty is prone to blunder. How that it could be; the dynasty can never be wrong - or else everything is lost. Drastic situations require drastic remedies The Prince took leave from his extracurricular activities and decided to shoot from the hip. He did and came out like a Rambo and a hero, the gun smoking profusely and leaving every one flummoxed, some to the point of consternation. The prince thus proved that he is much above all that muck even after wallowing in it all along.. Let the world behold and be thrilled.

The prince is now prim and prime,spick and span; it is the PM and his team wet and sick. It seems there is great future for jumping jacks in the Congress theater of the absurd

 The man who makes merry on the sly here is Nitish Kumar of JD(U). Whether or not  he tantalizingly held at a 'jumpable' height a half ripe banana of his chance, or even offer, of joining the UPA, which contributed to the spirited acrobatics of the young scion, might remain a part of the mysterious palace intrigues. One should see the obvious fall out of enormous potential of a  Lalu-devoid battle ground to fight the resurgent BJP in Bihar. In this Wild Life week the thought arises that one of the abundant species in the Indian jungle is the jackal.

Twinkle Like A Star

Posted by Dr. Gopal Unnikrishna Kurup

Twinkle Like A Star

In the darkening twilight
When shadows lengthen,.
And the hues become lighter
The sky shines ethereal,
You twinkle like a star.

Then the sea sways less
Sending shimmering waves
Leans on the land in embrace
And finds its peace with heavens.

Lo!, a light breeze wings from afar
Like a white bird darting from a star
To flutter your sleeves of lace,
And strands of hair to your face
Mentioning its message to your eyes
Making them twinkle like stars.

When it grows darker and darker
And all the cows come home
The sad courtyard lies lonesome
Staring at the cloudy sky for cover
Beckoning me to come step over
And watch you twinkle like a star.