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Archive for the 'Politics' Category

The Usual

Published May 16th, 2008 in India and Politics. 108 Comments

The standard sequence of events—-

1. Bomb blasts happen in a crowded area of an Indian city X bringing death and destruction in its wake.

2. Startling revelations are made by the administration within a few hours, bringing to light facts no-one could have guessed.

“Obviously, it’s a terrorist plot,” A.S. Gill, the police chief of Rajasthan, said hours after the attack. “The way it has been done, the attempt was to cause the maximum damage to human life.”

God damn those terrorists. Just when we think that they would do things in a way so as to cause the minimum damage to human life, they go ahead and do something totally unexpected.

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Of Torches, Tibet and Shakti Kapoor

Published April 7th, 2008 in Bollywood, Politics and Silly. 52 Comments

Should Aamir Khan run with the torch? Or shouldn’t he?

A lot can be said of Aamir Khan’s rather ingeniously hypocritical blog-post where he basically repeats the done-to-death moral equivalence of Kashmir, Palestine, Tibet and all the “human rights abuses” of the world, while not forgetting (and this is where the ingenuity lies) to throw in the plight of Kashmiri Pandits as a counterbalancing afterthought (as if that too is somehow an example of state-sponsored atrocity). Similarly B Raman’s open letter to Aamir Khan, correct though its central theme of how India and China differ in their reaction to dissent, can be criticized as introducing a rather tortuous “Muslim” angle —that being that the reason why Aamir Khan and Saif were asked to run with the torch was that it would be interpreted as an endorsement of China’s policies by “widely-respected Muslim personalities”

The truth, as most of us all know by now, is that Coke and Lenovo (not China or India directly), two corporate partners of the Beijing Olympics, have chosen their brand ambassadors Aamir and Saif Ali Khan respectively to run with the Olympic torch. That’s all that the torch-carrying ceremony is—an advertisement opportunity for the corporations and an obligation-discharging one for the stars on its payroll.

In other words, principles ko maaro goli. It’s all about dollars, cents and thanda matlab Coca Cola.

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Loanacy

Published March 11th, 2008 in Economics, India and Politics. 53 Comments

One of the things that I usually do not comment on is the Union Budget. The reason is simple. I know very little about economics and I have mentioned that before. For me the budget is all about special-interests driven fiscal dribbling: tariffs lifted on consumer electronics, an extra cess on cell-phones and exactly the opposite the next year.

In other words, nothing worth commenting on or getting too worked up about.

But then once in a few years, usually right before election time, the government decides to make a grand populist gesture. It gets excellent press, is politically extremely correct, can be spun of as a “crowning achievement” in the coming elections, allows poster painters to put down “savior of the common man” below gigantic cut-outs of leaders, and most importantly serves a vested interest or two. What’s positively evil genius about such gestures is that once you take even a slightly close look at it— you see that it’s blatantly unfair, isn’t that much of a big deal anyways, helps people who don’t need it that much, does not help all those whom it is supposed to and does absolutely nothing to solve the larger problem.

Yes I am talking about Sonia mam’s historic 100% government loan write-off to farmers who own less than 2 hectares and 25% loan write-off for overdue loans for all other farmers (provided they pay back 75% of their loan as negotiated) irrespective of financial condition or location , an amount that will directly cost the exchequer, as originally reported, 60,000 crores.

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New Construction Sena

Published February 4th, 2008 in Politics. 132 Comments

“New Construction” Sena and Sons and Nephews Thereof is a grassroots organization dedicated to “new constructions” in Maharashtra, preferably in Mumbai and Pune. We are “promoters” of regional pride which we also sell, preferably by square foot. Following is the aptitude test for those sons of the “soil” who wish to “develop” our cultural “property” by becoming members of our noble organization

Question 1: Spell your name in Marathi.

Question 2: The greatest Manoos is

a) Bal Thackeray b) Uddhav Thackeray c) Raj Thackeray d) William Makepeace Thackeray

[Hint: William Makepeace Thackeray was born in Calcutta]

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Tears For Fears

Published January 2nd, 2008 in Politics. 97 Comments

It has been said that we Indians, as a nation, lack a sense of history. Well going by the “candle burned out long before the legend ever will” Benazir hysteria that was unleashed in Indian news channels and media outlets in the last week, I would say we have no sense of current affairs either.

I don’t blame the Irish for giving Benazir Bhutto a posthumous peace prize with the citation “fought all her battles through dialogue and political debate and was an example to all those who do not use or surrender to terrorism”. [They should have just added “financial probity” in the citation while they were at it and we could at least have a good laugh] After all why should they remember Ms. Bhutto’s legacy of hate and violence when we in India,who were at the receiving end of her “political debate” and her “peaceful dialogue” , have forgotten everything?

Such is our amnesia that our “perennially-bent-at-the-waist” Prime Minister calls Benazir “one of the outstanding leaders of our sub-continent, who always looked for reconciliation between India and Pakistan”.

Yeah right.

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The Sound of Inevitability

Published December 17th, 2007 in Politics and Silly. 285 Comments

The best thing about being me… There are so many “me”s

–Agent Smith, Matrix Reloaded.

[Image courtesy: Yogesh K Sharma]

The Killing Fields of Bengal

Published November 21st, 2007 in Bengal and Politics. 664 Comments

[This is a long post. So be warned. May I also request people to read the whole post if they at all choose to start reading. Update on December 3, 2007: A minorly edited version of this post has appeared in the December edition of Pragati]

Amar naam, tomar naam—-Vietnam

“My name, your name, Vietnam”. Resonating across the streets of Calcutta and the villages of Bengal, this slogan of the late 60s and early 70s was as much a cry of solidarity for the Vietcong fighting the Americans as it was emblematic of the growing popularity of the philosophy of Communism among an entire generation, a political ideology that defined itself primarily by its support for the “little guy”, the downtrodden and the oppressed, as they fought the depredations of the West, evil corporations, landlords and the oppressive rule of the Congress. Tapping into this groundswell of Bengali idealistic passion, came to power a man who had positioned himself perfectly to ride the wave, branding himself as the “Sarboharar Neta” (the leader of those who have nothing).

A man by the name of Jyoti Basu, the leader of the CPIM.

Bengal was never the same again.

After nearly thirty years of Communist dominion in West Bengal, in what can only be called poetic irony, a word that rhymes with Vietnam has come to symbolize the political ideology of a new generation, that defines itself primarily by its support for the “little guy” as they fight the same set of enemies as before but with the oppressive rule of the Congress being now replaced by the oppressive rule of the CPIM.

That word is Nandigram —a human tragedy, an indictment of the extra-Constitutional authority of the democracy-crushing CPIM, and a political dagger in the hands of both the religious right and the “actual” Left to draw blood from their common enemy, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya

Will Bengal ever be the same again?

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Mushu Mushu Hasi

Published November 4th, 2007 in Politics. 56 Comments

Sari mein sari Parag Sari.

Coup mein coup Pakistan.

In a bizarre turn-of-events bordering on the farcical, “democratically elected” President Musharraf has been overthrown by “martial law enforcing army man” President Musharraf. Frustrated by what he calls “obstacles created in the face of the democratic process” our President Pinocchio, has done what any other upholder of “the rule of the people” would do when faced with a challenge to the democratic process—–he has abolished it. Totally. This is what political scientists call the “Na rahega baans na bajegi bansuri” gambit.

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AW

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