The lantern is finally put out
The recent election is a vindication of the principle of Democracy. The people came out in hordes and voted out the scourge of the country. Laloo Prasad Yadav (Please check out this link!!!) shall no longer hold the Oval Office of Bihar, much to the relief of the intelligentia of out land, and the chagrin of the impoverished illiterate.This resounding victory of the Chakra over the Lantern brings with it not just loads of expectations, but also a great deal of responsibility.
It is really sad that a province richer in minerals than most of the rest has degraded into a cesspit, and that too in a matter of a decade and a half. This is not to say that Bihar was much better off than what it is now before the onset of the Laloo era, but it was definitely better. The irony of ironies is the absence of power in a land where the political party in power was symbolised by the lantern. Yet, as Bihar looks anxiously into the future, hoping for a better government, it must realize that it itself is to blame for apathetic condition. Caste based politics marred by dismal literacy levels has been the bane, and add to this parochial mindsets, the perfect recipe of misgovernance is complete.
So whats my hope for Bihar? Well, the victory of the NDA is in itself a cause of celebration for me. My generation, in general, is a supporter of the NDA, and this is something to look forward to. That they got drubbed in Maharashtra on the same day, and the current revolt by Uma Bharati has put in a spanner in the works is a totally different matter. Coming back to Bihar, Nitish Kumar seems to be capable enough to lead the land, but will that alone be enough to drag out the state? He will need time, and this one term shall not suffice. 55 years of rule by a specious party (Congress included) takes time to weed out. But, if he truly wishes to improve the state, he will have to rise above the petty issues of caste and religion. He will have to stress on the basic amenities to the people like electricity, he will have to improve literacy right from the grassrootts, bring back the providence. If he shall degrade into going back into the mire of caste based politics, especially with a majority with him, it shall not go down well with me, and the country with the second highest level of dissatisfaction levels with the government shall have one more citizen being disillusioned with the government. The government will have to provide jobs, how it does it is something is would love to see. The migration of Biharis from their homeland is a cause of serious worry for our country. I am not a big fan of the "Mee Mumbaikar" campaign, but there is something that is right in it. Mumbai cant handle this huge influx of people. And last but not the least, Mr. Kumar will have to take a long hard look at the agri sector in Bihar; it is after all, the major revenue generator.
But heres wishing Mr. Kumar all the very best. Use your five years well Sir, and you shall have 5 more to book your profits.
PS1: All politicians are corrupt.
PS2: The "communal" parties shall be back. Beware Congress.
posted by Sunil Natraj at 11/30/2005 07:59:00 AM
24 Comments:
Absolutely, Lalu was the rotten apple.. And your link's back on my blog.Those spammers've checked out .
""My generation, in general, is a supporter of the NDA, and this is something to look forward to. ""
I don't like NDA. Or anything they stand for.
But, Nitish seems like a good man. And Bihar started rotting only around Laloo's time. Aparently, about 25 years after independence it won the best administrated state award.
I knew you would say that, and that is one of the reasons for tha statement. Watch out, Pranav shall follow suit. And no Bihar didnt start rotting with the oncoming of Laloo. The state was long gone. Like it or not, the Congress is equally culpable.
I agree with Sunil when he says that Laloo alone cannot be held responsible for the cesspool that has become Bihar. The Congress has ruled Bihar for most of its history, and is indeed equally responsible for the immensely saddening situation there. One however also wishes to query as to why the people of Bihar did not display the same urge for progress and development before. Surely, after ten years of Laloo-raj, the people had seen enough of his antics to fully estimate what was his potential.
I however would like to disagree with Sunil's contention that most of our generation support the NDA. I do feel this generation is smarter and supports those who show the promise of being able to deliver development. Mind you, mere promises don't fool them, they see your track record and then alone affirm their support for you. So, don't be surprised if four years hence, if the UPA shows sufficient delivery on their promises, then this generation will swing their way.
You know... I was all for a government with ANY principles, over a government as listless and stagnant as the one(s) in the 90s...
When BJP lost in 2004, i was a bit disappointed but thought what the hell, they ARE communal and might as well not get too powerful without some moderation...
But instead of moderating the NDA completely went to pieces... a symptom of lack of principles in the first place.... they lost my support from the way they act in Opposition... I expected people like Sushma Swaraj to show some grace and maturity... play a constructive role... but their childish walkouts, internal bickering, and absurd protests just prove that they are as power hungry and corrupt as anyone else... on the other hand, while Congress is not exactly an epitome of integrity, they certainly project a better image than what they did under Narsimha Rao and Sitaram Kesari!
Glad Laloo has been chucked out of Bihar though... anyone but him! :)
Certain things I just cant comprehend:
1: The meaning of the word "communal" according to the congress.
2: Why does "Hindutva" have to be a communal ideology? Its a policy, whether its communal or not is debatable.
3: Whilst we are discussing communalisn, may I ask if the Congress policies are perfectly Democratic? They have been partisan to Muslims for 50 years, and alienating hindus for the same period. The population growth rate of Muslims in north India is testament to this.
I don't like the NDA or the BJP.
Reason? I think BJP and the Congress differ primarily only in their ideology.
I think Congress minus BJP is secularism and BJP minus Congress is Hindutva.
And between secularism and Hindutva (whether or not it is communal or not) I would definitely choose secularism.
And simply because of this reason, I believe all other factors are immaterial in our country. It doesn't matter even if Congress people are stupid and BJP people are 21st century innovative people who will modernise the economy, etc.. All these factors are immaterial because I am a christian and the BJP does not make me feel safe as a ruling party. The Congress, whether hypocritically or actually secular makes me feel safer. And that is more important to me.
And by the way, the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha did not give India independence. Congress did. The leaders of the Congress did. Mahatma Gandhi did. Who was, incidentally, killed by a person who used to be an RSS activist.
[i]Whilst we are discussing communalisn, may I ask if the Congress policies are perfectly Democratic? They have been partisan to Muslims for 50 years, and alienating hindus for the same period. The population growth rate of Muslims in north India is testament to this. [/i]
The Congress has not been democratic... and the BJP even more blatantly not so. Care to explain, how that makes BJP preferable?
I realise that it is easy to be misunderstood when one's convictions are politically incorrect... the idea may be perfectly reasonable but if it is put provocatively, the idea and the person behind the idea are not given the due respect...
So please clarify your comment about "The population growth rate of Muslims in north India..." or did you actually mean that Muslims are to be BRED in a controlled manner or something?
And calling A, anything else doesn't make it anything else... "Hindutva" is a reference to a faith, which does not, according to many of its followers, preach burning people in bakery ovens...
But when u d something like that in the name of "Hindutva".. "Hindutva" will be the term that will get a bad name. Then don't run and hide behind its original meaning and claim a moral high ground...
Hey Vaibhav,
First of all, this aint PG. Tags are with <> and not []. :P
Anyways, I am not of the opinion that anyone is to be bred in any particular manner.
Can I state some hard facts??
Here goes! The average population growth in North India exceeds South India. It is not a question of breeding, but the Congress regime has for decades been partisan to the minorities, and this is an underlying reason to this. The congress has actually been screwing the Muslims for the time they have been in power. That aint democratic, and so to label the BJP as communal is something thats unfair. What antagonises me about the Congress is their blatant hypocricy. the BJP might not exactly better, but better off than them.
Fair enuf, that I support the BJP, but I will tell you what, I would rather not vote at all! I have great regards for our PM, but there ends my list of favourite politicians.
And Hindutva is an ideology. I agree that staying in a country that has another religions ideology would be something that I would not enjoy. But I still wont label it as communal.
Regards,
Sunil.
P.S: Have learnt the need to be politically correct. :P
And hey anon,
First of all welcome to Xanadu. India was liberated by THE CONGRESS, and not the present Congress (I) aka Congress Indira.
Can I state some hard facts??
Here goes! The average population growth in North India exceeds South India.
Forgive me if i seem a bit obtuse, but that does that have to do with anything? are you saying it is a good thing or a bad thing?? and what has the Congress (or for that matter any political party) got to do with this? The rate of population growth is influenced by the level of illiteracy (and a lot of other factors)... and the south has always enjoyed higher literacy levels... but that is neither here nor there... what about this would make me think any better of the BJP or worse of the Congress ?!
I agree, no political party right now is worthy of respect... in fact, there never was and never will be either, because politics is just a euphemism for compromised ideals (assuming theer were any to begin with) and every form of authority will always be corrupted... (incidently, only the democratic system recognises this and tries to correct this by recognising the Opposition as a necessary institution... an institution that the BJP has failed to uphold.. hell, the Left parties are playing this role better than the BJP)
It is a matter of chosing between two evils... I'd go for the lesser one... Congress is corrupt and blatantly hypocritical... no more and no less than any other party... but that is nothing compared to parties that are just as blatantly promoting genocide and hatred, in order to get power... last time i checked, that is what "communal" implies, but what one calls the party is irrelevant.... the hard facts remain the same...
When the Congress starts doing the same (and i don't think that it is impossible) I'll call it communal too...
PS: Thanks for the tip about tags...
Hope tht Nitish does well.... Best of luck to him. Bihar wud need a lot serious effort to get out of the current mess. Hope tht it does not remain a state of 'poor' people with 'rich' resources
Man u were right when u wrote that I would follow suit by supporting ranjani's belief that the present gen is not an NDA supporter.
I don't like the NDA.Not because it doesn't have the Congress.I am not a die hard supporter of the Congress.It's just that I would any time prefer some sophisticated politicians like Rajiv Gandhi,Narsimha Rao and other good Congress CM's like A k Antony,Capt Amarinder Singh etc to the barking roadside loafers and rascals like the Uma's,Sushma's,Jaitley's,Modi's and Advani's.C'mon we have all seen their performance in 6 yrs of NDA rule.
Tehelka scam,Gujarat riots or rather the Nero approach while the state was burning,the subsequent endorsement by elderly "statesman" Vajpayee of the "good" work done by Modi, the media savvyness of all the ministers in the NDA govt as if they had come to power to be on the screen the whole day long,the irresonsible statements like "foreign hand" for almost all the daily killings and gondaism.
I don't say that the Congress is clean either.But atleast some work was done during their rule.
The PC which we all use so frequently was introduced in India by the Rajiv Gandhi govt.The liberalistaion process on the basis of which India is now being seen as the next super power was initiated by the Congress govt led by Narsimha Rao.I have alot of respect for these two leaders because these decisions were visionary in the real sense of the word.Esp the work done by Narsimha Rao.That too in the lecense raj.We all are reaping the benefits of this process aren't we?
What work has been done by the NDA led by the BJP.During the 6 yrs of NDA I could just hear irrelevant words and discussions like Ram Mandir,Hindutva,preudo-secularism,minority appeasement,Hindu rights and the worst of them all a Hindu Rashtra.
What is Hindutva? I know only Hinduism.Now if the parties like BJP & organistaions like RSS,VHP etc claim that they are the real followers of the Hindu idealogy I can only laugh at them.For me Hinduism is all about tolerance & tolerance.But sadly during the NDA regime I just saw barking dogs like the Togadia's,Singhal's,Modi's & Sudarshan's keep harping on the Mandir,Hindu sentiments & unpatriotic muslims.Pls spare me the bull****.I have known many muslims as Indian as u all and me. Just because of a few black sheep one cannot blame the whole community.
Anyways I gotta go will continue discussing this later.
See, this is quintessential congress mentality! I mean who are you rooting for?
Rajiv Gandhji?? What a joke! That guy made trillions in the Bofors deal and our great Indian judiciary let him go scot free. All of us know this; whether we accept it or not is different.
Narasimha Rao: If it wasnt for his linguistic skills, the guy is no different to Rajiv Gandhi when it came to corruption
And why are we delving into past glory? Are we talking about the beginning of reforms? Well heres a fact. India was worse off after reforms started (not due it though) because of the Congress govt. My dad is a govt servant and he will vouch for it. And since the past is what we are talking about, let me remind you it was the Congress that had the Emergency declared. :P And speaking of reforms, do we recall Arun Shourie and India shining?? Albeit thee campaign sucked, and so did the disinvestment policies, thats exactly what PC is doing now. So wheres the path less taken?
Present leaders of the Congress: Barring Manmohan Singh theres not one guy (Besides Sitaram Yechury of the Left) whos even worth to be voted for. Atleast we have Atal Vajpayee and LK Advani there. Whether you like it or not, they commnad respect; respect they rightly deserve.
And last but not the least, I want to clarify that I am by no means a fanatic or a theocrat in any manner. I respect all religions, but I am just plain appaled at the plight of Muslims in North India.
And the reason for their plight is the Congress. i think a BJP rule will remove this evil onto society that the congress is perpetrating. Their stress on "Hindutva" might just help.
here i am...
:-))
i'm not for bjp...never was & never will be...
for the uninitiated, it was rajiv gandhi who put a thrust towards telecom services after the assassination of his mother...
it was worth the effort for a start...
india couldn't have had a better leader...
other than the bofors scandal i don't find any other chink in his armour...
for those not in the know, he was planning to conduct nuclear tests which were subsequently cancelled by narasimha rao under u.s. pressure...
bjp just continued from where they had stalled the program...
and would you clarify the evils perpetrated by the congress on the muslims, so to speak???
are you saying the north-indian hindus have lesser kids than the muslims...
naah...
don't be caught with your foot in your mouth...
mind you i'm not a congress supporter either, but as vaibhav said, given a choice i would go for the lesser evil...
the state of bihar is in such a state not because of the politicians but due to the attitude of the people...
the politicians have definitely lynched the state but the people could have corrected the system...
p.s.
i'am the real bjp...
...uma bharti
hahaha
Humbl dude,
I am quite surprised that we are not accepting the fact that Muslims are being given an unfair deal by the Congress. Its not an unfair deal, but they are screwing them. Period.
And Rajiv Gandhi minus bofors was a great guy?? Interesting to say the least! I think I will let it pass; we know the facts!
And yes, the people of Bihar are responsible for their plight, but I believe the governance is equally culpable.
And now I am tired of this post!! Enuf said! :)
hey, other than the bofors scam, what can you serve me about him...
i say, a corrupt person is anyday better than a pepetrator of genocide and pogroms like modi...
At 18 comments this is by far my most popular post!
Anyways, I too think Modi deserves to go.
What this post has taught me though is this: The intelligentia in our country is indeed quite intelligent (Rubbish joke), but it boils down to nothing. We shall slog all day in our cubicles that we refer to as offices and crib at every election.
:-))
cheers
Dai Natraj!
I think that minorities everywhere aren't treated as good as they should be.
In India, the muslim minority is huge. So ars the Christian and Sikh minority group. One of the main reason for the exponential growth of muslims in North India is the influx of migrants from Bangladesh. They have come in huge numbers and have changed the demographic of North and North-East India.
The Congress has always wooed the muslim minority because muslims tend to vote more for Congress than the other parties. The same goes to all the Dalit-wooing parties. Everybody was trying to woo the minority and soon the BJP came along trying to woo the Hindus with rath yatras and ram mandir issue.
None of the parties are democratic. India is still a very young nation. The US took 150 years to come to terms with their internal problems. Of course, we can't wait for so long but with the younger generation being more globo-savvy, things will get better in the next 25-30 years.
sick of blogging or what...
or are you really slugging out for the next sem...
whatever the case may be...
here's new year wishes to you from me
Well, i guess you'd already be pretty happy with 22 replies. Couldn't help but add another..
I see myself in part agreement with you. In politics, there is nothing called ideology. Thats just for public consumption. The fact remains that Hindutva - as we know to exist in politics, succeeded because a large part of India's hindu majority came to feel alienated by the pseudo-secularism practised by leaders then. In India, secularism has unfortunately come to be defined as appeasement of minorities.
I was always taught that being secular means that your conduct to another person should be always independent of his/her religion/caste etc.
Is that something that can be said for any party in India?
Is it not the same Congress(I) that demonised an entire community followed by state supported riots in 1984? Why past, lets talk of today. Is it not the same "secular" govt. who actions wrt. minority colleges have drawn flak from the courts? Or the matter of reservation for muslims in Andhra?
Clearly, with no intention to cover for BJP's mistakes(Gujrat etc.), we can safely conclude that neither are actually secular in their actions.
Mr. Laloo Yadav openly flouted his MY(muslim yadav) combination till he was busted this time. Is it any secret that in most northern states, people voted only for candidates of their caste?
If I were a smart politician, i'd realize that Hindutva as a political platform has outlived its utility. The masses have seen the new found affluence of the urban middle class. They couldn't care whether Diggy raja drinks cow's urine(thats what Digvijay Singh claimed before MP elections to impress Hindu community). They want development, and fast. A Ram mandir in Ayodhya doesnt evoke the same kind of emotional response as it did say 15 years ago.
Vajpayee did realize it before the last general elections and hence the poll plank was development rather than Hindutva. Unfortunately, some sloppy work on the ground did them in. The process initiated by Advani, no matter what his past sins, will guide the BJP towards being a modern right wing party in sync with the aspirations of the people. Mark my words, its a question of time before it happens.
Sheila Dikshit realised it in Delhi and managed to change the party's profile with amazing success in Delhi.
Nitish Kumar along with Arun Jaitley did very well to not the use the already overused Hindutva plank in Bihar preferring to market themselves as the only means to development.
Its only a matter of time before idiots like those who feel renaming Bangalore is more important than building roads are shown the door by an impatient junta.
Cheers to that.
comment from the most political people of all----
hindutva is an ideology as much as secularism is one for the congress....
congress is just marginall better than the bjp in terms of viewing of the minorities...... atleast thts wht the party agenda says..... but we all know how deligently it is applied in reality......
the main problem is the absence of a strong head to both parties...... bjp has n overzealous old bugger in advani at the front..
congress has a foreigner as the head--- (not against firangs but comeon yaar she is not born in this soil... for chrisssake she aint british too... she cant speak hindi??)
the head if found everything will fall into place.....
everything.....
think abt it...
judiciary, corruption, unemployment, fiscal deficit... everything.....
one master stroke....
in the mean time we can atleast our own small but significant voices for the betterment o the country...
vande mataram!
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