Smrithi Irani and the Controversy over her Educational Qualifications

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The new Prime Minister of India, Hon'ble Narendra Modi was barely sworn in and a new row has erupted. The Prime Minister keeping in mind his promise of Minimum Government, Maximum Governence appointed a rather lean ministry. large infrastructure ministries which were considered cash cows by the UPA regime have been clubbed together in order to eliminate  overlapping jurisdictions and minimize time expended on getting clearances and permits. Jawaharlal Nehru created a byzantine bureaucracy which was totally beyond accountability and Modi has set out to rein in this wayward officialdom. He followed it up with a spectacular gesture of inviting all the heads of State and Government of the SAARC. Narendra Modi's swearing in ceremony became a mini summit meeting of all the SAARC nations. The invite to Shri Nawaz Sheriff. the Prime Minister of Pakistan, was a diplomatic masterstroke. The presence of the Pakistan Prime Minister added significance to the occasion.

Unlike the UPA with its huge maga Ministry of nearly 90 ministers, Modi's Cabinet has only 24 Ministers of Cabinet rank. There are 10 Ministers of State with independent charge over their ministries and 14 Ministers of State. Many BJP heavy weights were denied cabinet berths and a number of younger men and women were brought in as Ministers with Cabinet rank. Obviously there will be a lo9t of disappointed MPs who were expecting the be made members of the Cabinet. One particular appointment however has generated some controversy. Smrithi Irani, a well known TV artist who acted in the mega serial Kuanki Saas bhi Kabhi Bahu thi was appointed Minister of Cabinet rank for the Ministry of Human Resource Developemt. Higher Education comes within the purview of this Ministry and it is quite likely that Narendra Modi may take that particular Department and meld it with some other Ministry. He has spoken of the 5 Ts governing his administration: Talent, Tradition, Technology, Transparency, Tourism. Keeping this principle in mind perhaps the Department of Higher Education may be merged with some other Ministry. However, the Congress party raised the lack of educational qualifications as a major talking point.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development was created by Rajiv Gandhi and was headed for a long time by Arjun Singh who used his office to literally sell licences to establish "deemed universities". The Supreme Court had to intervene in order to regulate the spate of deemed universities that have sprung up.With the exit of the State from the field of Higher Education, private players have entered the field in a big way and Higher Education is one field in which the coll refreshing breeze of liberalization has not been felt. Indian Higher Education continues to be over regulated and there is no place for innovation or initiative in the field of Higher Education. Indian Universities are in a state of terminal decline and Higher Education requires immediate attention.

Smrithi Irani has clearly stated that she has studies only up to the 12th Standard and the Congress party says that her lack of educational qualifications makes her ineligible for the job. Indian Ministers of Education have at times been over educated like Dr Nurul Hassan who inflicted enormous damage to the cause of education by making higher education drift in an over charged ideological milieu. Irani will certainly do no such damage and it is best not to allow ideological agents occupy that position. In the two previous instances of non Congress rule, the Congress and its ideological allies mounted serious challenge first to Dr Chander, the Minister for Education under the Janata Party in 1977-79 and also to Dr Murali Manohar Joshi who served as MHRD Minster under Atal Behari Vajpeyee. By entrusting this portfolio to an  minster who will not be perceived as partisan, Narendra Modi has insulated the field of Higher Education from the kind of pulls and pressures which it has seen in the past. Smrithi Irani will obviously be guided in her brief by the Prime Minister.

One of the most damaging consequences of the long innings of Dr Nurul Hassa as Minister of State for Education was that all important Institutions were brought under the tutelage of the Congress party and its affiliates: ICHR, UGC, ICSSR, ICCR, CSIR etc. It is time to democratize these institutions and the time is now.

Gopalakrishna Gandhi and his "Open Letter" to Narendra Modi: A Political Critique

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

In the Hindu dated May 19th 2014, the grandson of the Mahatma himself has issued an epistolary declaration of war against the newly victorious Narendra Modi. Open Letter to Narendra Modi is bad both in form and in taste as unbridled impertinence passes off as political wisdom and  liberal posturing masquerades as sage wisdom. Goplakrishna Gandhi has flagged all the traditional liberal issues without admitting that these issues have lost their relevance and resonance in India today which is aspiring for economic growth and social progress. At least he is honest enough to admit that the results of the elections surprised him and this speaks volumes about the disconnect between "intellectuals" like this Gandhi and the Indian reality of today.

Elitism has found a new language:it pretends to be couched in the garb of morality, egalitarian sentiments and social inclusiveness. Why else will Gandhi say that he was sickened by the "chai wallah" barb of another veteran of the liberal brigade, the notorious and crass Mani Shankar Iyer who lost his deposit in the recent poll.It is entirely irrelevant whether the likes of Gopalakrisha Gandhi find Hon'ble Narendra Modi acceptable or not. He is our Prime Minister by the choice of the people of India and any democrat must respect that. Gopalakrishna Gandhi cannot presume that his idea of India ought to enshrined in the India that Modi seeks to build. These days everyone has his/ her own Idea of India and in a  multi vocal and multi party democracy like India, everyone has the right to advocate his/her Idea of India. The liberals like Gandhi are only interested in imposing their idea of India as an assemblage of fragments as Partha Chaterjee famously said  on the rest of us. Narendra Modi has his Idea of India and he has won the mandate to refashion India after that image.

Stoking the fears of the minorities is another of the tried and tested methods of men like Gopalakrisha Gandhi. The just concluded elections prove that Narendra Modi's appeal transends the traditional faultlines of India society: dalits, muslims, tribals, the OBCs, the SWC and Sts have all voted for the BJP much to the chagrin of men like Gandhi. Instead of recognizing the fact that identity politics which played havoc with India has been set aside, Gandhi bemoans the demise of traditional identity politics. This shows that onl habit die hard and men like Gandhi are stuck in the Jurassic Park of identity, Idea of India, fake secularism and Dynastic fascism. But for his last name, who would give time of day for men like Gopalkrishna Gandhi.

There is a reference to communal violence in nhis article, the sub text being that Narendra Modi is still suspect for the 2002 events. The Supreme Court has found Narendra Modi innocent and yet Gopalkrishna Gandhi and his fellow IIC stalwarts always insinuate the involvement of Modi in the 2002 events. Do they pause to ask the Congress party why for 10 days the police was not called out in New Delhi in 1984. Do they ask why the Amry which is quartered in New Delhi itself was not called to maintain law and order. And we habve evidence that nearly 297 rioters were killed in Gujarat in the immediate aftermath of Godhra. I do not expect men like Gandhi, ideologues of the Establishment to be honest. But facts must be recorded and History cannot be distorted to score trivial political points.

Citizenship implies common laws and common responsibilities and speaking about citizenship is not "monarchist language" as Gandhi terms it.Modi rightly speaks of 125 crore Indians without fragmenting them into narrow domestic walls which in reality ghettoize the minorities. He seeks to bring them into the full sunlight of citizenship which liberals like Gandhi who play to the gallery of identity politics find very threatening. And last comes his absurd and impudent advice that Narendra Modi should accept the recommendations of the NGOs for names to the panel on SC and STs. Why did Gandhi not give the same advice to the UPA.

The press is already started blowing the bugle of war against Narendra Modi and those of us who want India to be strong and peaceful must be unitied in our re4solve.

"India has won": The implications of Narednra Modi's massive Electoral Victory, 2014

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

Regular readers of my blog would have realized that I have always predicted a  Naredra Modi victory and my estimate even of the seats won by the BJP has proved to be accurate. The Congress party, just as I predicted lost and lost so badly that it does not even qualify for the Post of the Leader of the Opposition. It appears that the Electorate has voted decisively and such magnificent electoral mandates carry with them the danger of evaporating just as fast.  It is necessary to understand, grasp and analyze the el corruption was also election of 2014 as it will set the benchmark for several subsequent elections.

The BJP has become a National party in that in the elections just concluded the BJP has secured nearly 50% of the votes polled and in a Parliamentary form of Democracy this is massive. Second, the Party which had just 2 members in the Parliamentary Elections of 1984 has now secure on its own 282 seats and along with its allies reached the 332 mark. This means that Narendra Modi led Government will be strong ans stable and will not be subject to the politics of blackmail that bedeviled the Congress Regime. Infrastructure building ministries like Ports and Telecom were assigned to regional political parties and the 2G Spectrum scandal and the Coal Allocation Scandal were the direct outcome of coalition politics. Narendra Modi does not have that handicap and being personally incorruptible he will either keep these ministries with himself or assign them to an aide whose loyalty he is assured of.  The trust that Narednra Modi has made with  revolves around the promise of Developmenmt which will pull the country out of the morass of economic stagnation. The development will be financed by large Infrastructure projects and the return of investor confidence is crucial to the success of this project. The youth have voted overwhelmingly for Narendra Modi in the hope that his promise is delivered upon.

The fact is that the Congress led UPA regime apart from being embroiled in egregious corruption was also undermining the social fabric of the country by resorting to identity po9litics of the lowest kind. Every political decison was taken keeping the interests of the ruling party and its vote bank in sight. Narendra Modi now has the elbow room to stay away from identity politics. The Communal Violence bill is a good example of such misguided initiatives. In India it is well known that all previous instances of communal violence were instigated by the Congress party and even in the 2002 Riots for which Narendra Modi was blamed and eventually cleared, it was the Congress that participated in the large scale killings that went on. In fact nearly 200 Congressmen are facing the courts for their role in the riots. Under Narendra Modi social peace will prevail and that is what India needs at the moment. The statecraft of Narendra Modi is predicated upon economic issues and so will be driven by the need and desire for social and political calm. In fact the Indian ruppee has already started rallying withoing hours of the modi victory.

The Governance of the country, or to put it in the words of Modi, "minimum governance, maximum governance" will be based on extensive consultations will all the constitutionally mandated authorities. The National Development Council in which all the Chief ministers of the States are represented, will play an important role and to that extent the Planning Commission will be rendered redundant. Of course, planning will be necessary but that will be done on the basis of rational criteria. The Reserve Bank of India has changed the interest rates and the new Government will take steps to increase foreign trade and reduce the widening trade deficit,  Roads, Powers and Hi Speed Raiways will be give due importance and in all these the involvement of China will be welcome.

India;s foreign policy is in shambles. The previous regime did not pursue any kind of strategy in the pursuit of Indian foreign polcy. The Americans made it a habit to take India for granted in the name of the "strategic partnership". Under Narendra Modi the "look East " Policy will be firmly in place Perhaps the first country Narendra Modi will visit after taking office will be China. Narendra Modi has written extensively on the impressive economic growth of China and his development plank owes some of the boiler plate to China. With USA in terminal decline, nothing much can be expected.

The massive mandate will bring peace and to some extent prosperity to India both of which were massively dented by the Congress..

Narendra Modi: India's New Prime Minister Leadership and Vision

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

For the first time in India's electoral history, a single individual has been able to overcome the inherent contradictions of a complex electoral system which makes it difficult for any one candidate to emerge victorious as the first past the winning post system imposes its own conditions. And for Narendra Modi to prevail in the face of this hugely complex electoral system  and surge toward the 285+ mark makes us stop to think, ponder and reflect.  He has clocked 300,000 kilometers of travel by road, rail and air. He has addressed nearly 500 rallies all over the country and had participated in over 4600 gatherings called "chai pe chercha". An Indian version of a Tea Party. The hard work has paid off and the BJP and its Allies in the NDA are poised to form the next Government in India.

Narendra Modi was born on 17th September 1950 in a family which belonged to the OBC section of Indian society. Modi himself did not present himself as an OBC leader as his strategy involved the emphasis on development rather than identity. It was only when the Congress party insulted his politics by calling it "low level" politics (neech rajniti) that Modi decided to hit back and turned a barb into an emphatic endorsement of his vision. Priyanka Gandhi made sweeping and rather crude remarks against Modi and that turned the tide in his favor into a flood.Having shot her mouth about Modi's "low politics", Priyanka and the dynastic fascists tried to  mend the damage but it was too late. She came across as an arrogant woman insulting a self made man.

Narendra Modi spent his formative years in the RSS . The RSS, a nationalist and patriotic organization has always remained the bete noire of the Indian establishment because it was the only politcal force which opposed the Nehruvian Plan of Partition of India. The Congress made ,made what Nehru called the "tryst with destiny" but that tryst was predicated upon the unity of India not division. Because the RSS opposed Partition, Nehru and his cohorts labelled it "communal" and when Gandhi was murdered in January 1948, Jawarlal Nehru tried his best to implicate the RSS in the killing. Three National Commissions of Inquiry have exonerated the RSS and yet the Congress and its allies always rake up the past in order to undermine the organization. Narendra Modi came under the influence of Vakil Sahib and owes his world view and personality to him. It was Inamdar who encouraged Modi to study and he graduated with a B A degree in political science from the University of Delhi and later took his M A again in political science from South Gujarat University. Right form an early age Narendra Modi has remained a voracious reader with a formidable memory. During his long years as  Prachark of the RSS, Narendra Modi stunned people by his accurate recall of names and events from times past.

An incredible capacity to juggle with the nitty gritty of  organizational details and a dedicationto the mission and vision of the RSS ensured Narendra Modi's transition from a Pracharak to the General Secretary of the BJP during the years when L K Advani was the President. As General Secretary of the Party, Narendra Modi realised the importance of the newly emergent technologies, particularly the Computer and has always shown a willing ness to harness technology for political purposes. In the recently concluded Parliamentary Polls, Narendra Modi successfully integrated Information Technology, GIS and the Internet to propel the BJP forward. All his meeting and rallies took place well within the limits of the Code of Conduct of the Election Commission of India.He adhered to the time limit and there were days when he addressed a rally in North East India in the morning, a rally in South India in the afternoon and another in Western India all on the same day,. Few politicians have put themselves through such a grueling task. Even before setting off in the morning his Research Staff would have prepared the dossier for the next days rally. Even Generals planning a campaign or war hardly show such dedication to detail.

The new Government will have a completely new policy on almost all the important social and economic issues of the country. Massive funding on projects like the MNREGA, the flag ship scheme of the UPA will not be undertaken and the emphasis will shift to infrastructure. Investment in Roads, Ports and Railways can be expected to increase together with greater emphasis on Primary Education. Social Welfare will be targeted  keeping real  poverty levels in view and there will be less salience on identity issues. The hyped statements of the Congress that a Modi victory will lead to chaos will prove to be empty rhetoric. Even with the Muslim population, the Modi Governemnt will be fair.  Since the narrative has changed from identity to development, social temperature will remain normal. I would not be surprised if new high speed trains are introduced between the different major metros.

On the foreign policy front, the strategic embrace of the USA will be reconsidered as it is not in India's interest. Modi has always been an admirer of China and will try to bring about good relations with China. The confrontational policy will not continue and Modi will walk the extra mile to remain on friendly terms with China. With USA the relationship will remain normal, but the special bond between UPA leaders and USA will not be there.India under Modi will not strut about on the international stage as there are great challenges here in India. With Israel there will be excellent ties and normal relations will continue with the Middle Eastern countries. With Iran, the stalled Gas Pipe Line project will be revived. As far as the neighborhood is concerned, India will retain its predominance and will not follow a policy of letting the tail wag the dog.

On the economic front, the Current Account Deficit will engage the attention of the Government. Investment climate will certainly improve. Corruption will not be totally eliminated, but Narendra Modi is known for his integrity and his zero tolerance for mis governence and corruption. After 10 years of stagnation< India will at last have a Government which will work.

Modi as a young boy

With Vakil Saheb, a major influence in the Prime Minister's life

The 2014 Parliamentary Election Campaign and its Aftermath: A Bitter War of Words unleashed by the Congress party

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The dust is slowly settling on the unusually long, and even by the standards of Indian electoral rhetoric, a very ugly campaign season. The Congress party set the trend when its President, Sonia Gandhi in an election rally accused the BJP of sowing fields of poison, an Indian expression which cannot be rendered easily into English. Zehar ki Kheti, the phrase used by Sonia Gandhi implies a deliberate cultivation of poison inorder to entrap innocents. The ugliness inherent in this remark set the benchmark for others to equal or exceed the shock quotient of Sonia's vulgar and tasteless rhetoric. And the BJP returnrd the compliment in kind.

Throughout the last two years, Hon'ble Narendra Modi in his speeches has been trying to focus attention on three issues: development, corruption and security, both internal and external. He deliberately set aside all divisive issues so that the Electorate makes up its mind in an informed manner. The old style Indian electoral politics of raising caste, religion, region and language controversies were set aside for a highly civilized campaign based on performance and governance. The Congress party rattled by the response that Modi was getting decided to go on the offensive and picked up caste and religion as weapons from its well stocked armory.  The wild charges leveled by Priyanka Gandhi on Narendra Modi set the stage for the rivals to rake up the controversial land deals of her husband, Shri Robert Vardra. This uneducated man with absolutely no resources was able to build up an empire with assets of nearly 1,000 crore rupees. His business model was simple and ingenious. He would approach a real estate or construction company for a soft loan to buy land and use soft loan to buy land from Congress rules states and get the land use changed and subsequently sell the same land back to the same developers for windfall profits. The BJP called this model the R S V P Model, each letter standing for Rahul, Sonia, Vadra and Priyanka respectively. The Congress retaliated by accusing Hon;ble Narendra Modi of gifting land to industrialists at throw away prices and their ire was directed against Adnani a business tycoon who like most businessmen in crony capitalism friendly India was equally close to the Congress and it turned out that much of his deals had materialized during the Congress regime.

The personal attacks on Narendra Modi were both vulgar and intense. Any lesser man would have wilted under the intense and well orchestrated campaign of vulga personal attack directed at Narendra Modi. The fact that Hon;ble Naendra Modi had married Jodhabehn when he was very young was raked up to question his marital status and of course the calumny that a man who abandoned his spouse cannot be trusted. This campaign was a clever one inthat it touched a nerve right at the heart of Indian social values. Fortunately, the clarification issued by the brother of Modiji's spouse cleared the air and the campaign of Rahul Gandhi just exploded on the face of the Congress party. Then the Congress shifted its attack on the Other Backward caste status claimed by Narendra Modi. Having brought in the dimension of "high" politics and "low" politics into the electoral discourse the Congress stirred up the caste cauldron hoping to conjure up the witches brew. The unseemly remarks of Priyanka Gandhi came in handy during the last phase of the Polls which were to take place for 33 seats in UP and Bihar, and the BJPwent to town over the remark and made it appear that the Congress was dividing the people on the basis of caste. The thoughtless remarks of an uneducated and unsophisticated young woman, Priyanka Gandhi came in handy to tear the "inclusive" character of the dynastic fascist outfit, the Congress party.

The conduct of the Election Commission was not above board. India has a constitutionally mandated Election Commission whice usually does a good job. In Varanasi where Narendra Modi is also contecsting against the AAP candidate Arvind KLhejriwal Narendra Modi was denied permission to hold a rally while Rahul Gandhi and Kejriwal were accorded permission. The discrimination was brought before the public of Varansi in a huge way.

The election process spread over 50 days has led the politicians particularly the Congress apprehensive of impending defeat to use identity issues to degrade the election. However, the next Government is likely to be the Narendra Modi's.

NARENDRA MODI, PROPHET UNARMED; A REVIEW OF ANDY MARINO'S BIOGRAPHY

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

Narendra Modi: A Political Biography
Andy Marino
New Delhi, Harper Collins, 2014

Isaac Deutscher in his trilogy on Trotsky called the first volume, Prophet Armed and it dealt with the life of Leon Trotsky as a revolutionary first in the underground movement, it pursues his life through the tumultuous days of the Revolution and the Civil War until his expulsion from Soviet Union by Stalin.  In the case of Narendra Modi his most difficult days were before his undoubted rise to the Prime Minister-ship of India following the victory in the 2014 Parliamentary elections. As a political figure, few have had to endure the sustained campaign of vilification launched against him by the Congress party and its allies. Few political figures have had to endure the  relentless scrutiny of both the Indian Judiciary and the Indian Media for close to a decade. Modi has lived his public life under the shadow of intense hostility, a poison marinated environment that would have broken anyone else without that little detail called character. Narendra Modi has braved the storm, faced the adversaries both in the political arena as well as in the international arena and has emerged tougher and fitter. The rise of Narendra Modi from a small town in Gujarat to the position of the elected Prime Minister of India is the stuff of legend and all in all his biography offers an inspiring example to an aspirational and buoyant India. Long coddled by political dynasties which had perpetuated their stranglehold on the Indian electorate by a combination of identity politics and muscle power, the rise of Modi marks a decisive turning point in India's evolution as a Nation and  a Democratic polity. The book under review offers a fascinating glimpse into the life of the future PM of India.

The Indian political and "intellectual"  class has been intensely hostile to the Chief Minister of Gujarat and it is difficult to find an objective biography of Narendra Modi. He has been consistently demonized by the elite English Press and  electronic media represented by NDTV and the like that to raise doubts about the "complicity" of Narendra Modi in the 2002 Riots is to invite derision and accusations of "communal" bias. The author of this biography,Andy Marino has written a highly readable and accurate account of the life Narendra Modi. The author points out that the persona put on by Modi on the theater of Indian politics is quite the opposite of his true self: in real life Narendra Modi in reflective and cautious, with a penchant for self doubt. Of course he is animated by a sense of mission and is able to communicate his passion to an electrified Nation. The author sees Modi journey of life from selling tea in a stall near a major bus stand to his present position as one marked by struggle in which mistakes could be costly and unforgiving. After having joined the RSS Shaka, Modi became a protege of Laxman Rao Inamdar and remained loyal to the ideals of his mentor. During the Emergency when the entire Opposition was in Jail, Narendra Modi was the link between the political leadership and the jailed comrades.

Narendra Modi in China.

Factional politics within the Gujarat unit of the BJP ensured an exile to New Delhi as a Secretary of the BJP when L K Advani was the President of the Party. It of course rankles the old Patriarch of the party that his protege has earned his spurs in national politics and will soon be the Prime Minister of India.

The author discusses in great detail the Riots of 2002. In the burning of the bogie containing pilgrims traveling on the Sabarmati Express, the author has shown that Congressmen like Haji Bilal were involved.  Yet the Congress national leadership behaves as if the Party had nothing to do with the riots that followed. The author has shown that even in the attack on Gulgarba Colony in which Eshan Jaffri, the Congress MP was killed there were Congressmen in the mob. The involvement of the Congress Party in almost all the major riots all across India is well known and is documented. In the case of the 1984 Pogrom against the Sikhs the Congress is guilty not only of complicity in the killings which followed the gunning down of their leader, but also in the systematic manner in which the crimes of the Congress were suppressed over the years. In the case of the 2002 Riots in Gujarat, however, the Nanawati Commission and following theat Commission the Supreme Court appointed and monitored Special Investigation Team found evidence to suggest that contrary to the propaganda of the Congress and its allies, Narendra Modi did everything possible to bring the situation under control.


The book offers an excellent insight into the style of governance of Narendra Modi. The author points out that the Chief Minister of Gujarat provides an empowering administration by reducing  corruption. Almost all observers, both Indian and foreign have pointed out that there is little corruption in Gujarat and consequently governance and the delivery of services to the people is much better. Another important point is the wide spread consultation between stakeholders and the Administration before any major decision is taken. This sort of Shivir Smmalan as it is called is not the part of the Congress political culture and is a direct adaptation from the RSS mode of consultative decision making. Narendra Modi's own incorruptibility has turned out to be the biggest drawback for the Congress Party and is also the source of the immense moral energy that Modi brings on to the political arena.

The book under review is a factual well written and well documented biography of Narendra Modi as he stands at the cusp of a huge electoral victory. The Congress party with its dynastic politics and countier culture is out of tune with the changing India.

Jacques Le Goff the French Medievalist: A Tribute

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

When the twentieth century looks back on its past and tries to locate the intellectuals who strove to make sense of the past in a meaningful way, then the names of  Marc Bloch, Fernand Braudel, E J Hobsbawm, Georges Duby and Jacques Le Goff will crop up. With the exception of Hobsbawm all the others belonged to a school of historical thought, reflection and method which is generally referred to as the Annales School. While there is considerable disagreement between different historians on the themes, approaches and methods of writing history, all the leading members of the Annales School shared an ecumenical view of History one that skirted the primacy of the Nation State as the main motor or engine of History. Right from the days of Ranke the emergence of the Nation State was seen as the teleos of history, the end result of the long drawn struggle between Church and State and the religious conflicts which split Christendom in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Hegel even made the Nation State the informing ideal of History and the historical process. The wonton and savage destruction of a whole civilization in the battlefields of Somme, Ypres and Flanders during World War I raised questions in the minds of Historians about the validity of the nation state as the container of the historical process. From the ruins of World War I emerged a new way of looking at the past. Marc Bloch and his friend and collaborator Lucien Febvre  founded a journal in 1929 in which they espoused a Historiography unhinged from the political and ideological demands of the Nation State. The Annales remained a journal devoted to the study of History not as a mere narrative of events, the dance of kings, queens and their courtiers on the stage of History, but as problems posed as questions--histoire problematique.

The death of Jacques Le Goff on April 1, 2014 brings an end to one of the most creative epochs of European medieval  historiography. Born on January 1st 1924, Jacques Le Goff succeeded Fernand Braudel as the directeur of the Ecole  des Hautes Etudes en Science Sociales in 1972 and devoted most of his research energy to the uncovering of the deep structures of culture and ideology, the carapace within which society functions. The early Annales historians stresses the role of agrarian organizations and March Bloch famously demonstrated that the Open Field system  emerged in southern France with the gradual end of serfdom. Using the maps of the Revolutionary period, Bloch was able to uncover the earlier patterns of farming and field organization. Under Jacques Le Goff, the Annales turned its attention to what the French called mentalites, the structures of thought and behavior informing social life. In books such as Time Work and Culture in the Middle Ages, The Birth of Purgatory, The Medieval Imagination and several such contributions Le Goff vastl;y extended the domain of medieval history. Understanding the medieval world in its totality remained the inspiring ideal of Le Goff.

A great historian is no more. This blogger lives works and teaches in India, far away from the land of Le Goff. I have read his work with passion and I write these words as a tribute to a Historian who will forever remain an inspiration.

Now History has moved into the realm of language and language games. Le Goff rightly avoided the temptation of making  History a mere language game.

The Metaphysics of the Political Imagination: Narendra Modi, the Indian Intellectual and the 2014 Elections

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

A noted Indian "sociologist" in a center page article in the Hindu (April 5, 2014) has made some bold and superficially interesting speculations abort the brand of politics Narendra Modi represents.  I wonder why such eminent sociologists do not subject the Congress Party and its mascot, Sonia Gandhi to the same kind of rigorous scrutiny as many of his conclusions can with equal justification be extended to the Congress. In politics style matters as much as substance and when Indian intellectuals train their guns on one individual and suddenly find his ideological soul mates like Atal Bihari Vajpayee and l K Advani more authentic than Narendra Modi from a "civilization" point of view, then we know that something is seriously wrong about the logic behind such ideologically constructed posturing. Until not that long ago, Indian middle class intellectuals, particularly the tele intellectuals of the JNU breed were articulating  their wisdom in terms of sound bytes aired on NDTV which   drove home just one point: the BJP and its politics is a threat to the "secular" values of the country and by default must support the Congress party. The intellectuals found it both prudent and professionally rewarding to mouth the empty slogans of "secularism" and "inclusion", the stock in trade of high political discourse in India/.

The JNU brand of tele intellectuals were never enamored of the politics of the BPJ and if they start discovering  virtues in Atal ji and Advani ji it can only mean that any kind of rhetoric is justified when it comes to Modi bashing. All the three leaders named above share a common vision of an India that is strong, free from corruption and can hold its head high in the high table of world politics. Unlike the intellectuals who hog prime time television in India, Modi does not seek the approbation or approval of the western world. It does not matter whether Economist endorses Narendra Modi. However, the intellectuals like the author of the center page article referred to, thrive on signets of professional recognition from the Western media and institutions. This particular intellectual was opposed to the nuclear policy of India, and throughout  his long and distinguished career has not criticized USA for the slaughter in World War II  or the repeated acts of armed aggression all over the world. Yet when it comes to India they will pose as if they are the civilizational strength of India lies in its ability to produce publicists like themselves.As far as Narendra Modi is concerned his public rhetoric is civilized and yes, his language is strong and effective but does not degenerate into gutter rhetoric like Mrs Sonia Gandhi and her Congress courtiers. Why does this man not take the Congress woman to task for making public discourse so  vulgar and coarse.

As a sociologists, the writer must be aware that in terms of social inclusion as empirically measured by voting percentages and seats won, the BJP scores much higher than it rival the Congress. At least in North India, most of the SC reserved seats and ST seats have been won by the BJP and there is no use in taking recourse to the Marxist line that such figures only represents false consciousness on the part of the "subaltern" classes. At the end of the day the tele intellectual is always right and facts be damnned. Why let facts and empirically verifiable date come in the way of a politically correct and rewarding statement. The intellectual goes on to gratuitously advive the BJP   to be more "discursive" more "conversational". The discursive space in Indian politics is hogged by the Congress and its academic bandwagon who have monopolized public space in the name of secularism and nationalism. If they want to suggest that the hysterical style of ranting against electoral adversaries like the way Sonia, Rahul and other members of the First Family, the Royal Dynasty represents discursive expanse and a conversational style of politics, I am afraid that people will not accept. The electorate sees the shrill hysterical ranting of the Congress as hate mongering and it is time that the soft intellectuals like the author of the center page article recognize the political style of the dynastic fascists as divisive and fraudulent

To harp on Jaswant Singh has become fashionable. Suddenly the opponents of Narendra Modi have rediscovered the virtues of Jaswant Singh after his rebellion. But the same class of tele intellectuals were berating him until the other day for the views on Partition and his analysis that Congress too was responsible for the Partition and do In need to remind my readers of what they said about Jaswant Singh when the then NDA Government released the Taliban prisoners in exchange for the passengers of the Indian Airlines flight which was hijacked to Kabul. I agree Indians do not have a sense of History, but if "sociologists" who write about the civilizational strengths of the BJP should choose tom ignore recent events then it is not oversight but deliberate distortion for political purposes. Is there anything "civilizational" about Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi. If Narendra Modi is faulted for not being "civilizational" them I wonder if the hate filled rhetoric of the First Family is civilizational.

It is obvious that the writer has not followed the Campaign of Narendra Modi and therefore is unaware of the reasons why he resonates all around the country. He is not an "ersatz"version of the BJP as the writer inelegantly puts it, but rather one who has crafted his political message keeping the complex realities of an ever changing India. The fact is that Narendra Modi has jettisoned the old style identity politics and has changed the terms within which India debates its future. And "sociologists" of course are livid as he has out did them in their own game. He has crafted a message of social and economic development based on the principle that the State has to ensure that the basic structure within which resource transfers and nation building takes place is in tune by and large with the aspirations of the people. And he has successfully sold the argument that the economic downturn in India is linked to the massive and egregious corruption under the congress. What is offensive or objectionable about this fundamental message. Governemnts will be voted in and voted out not on the basis of real and invented identities but on the grounds of performance as seen by the common man. I do not see anything alarming in all this and wish the author had used the resources of his mind to reflect on the conditions prevailing all over the country. The sense of gloom and doom are there in the eyes of eveyone except the starry eyed wonder struck sociologists of JNU.

The upcoming elections will mark a decisive turning point in the history of India. Under Narendra Modi, India will be able to stand and take strides towards improving its economy, living standards and social harmony all of which were ruthlessly compromised during the past 10 years.

This writer can say that Dharampal will certainly endorse Narendra Modi.

A Comma in a Sentence by R Gopalakrishnan: A Review

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

 Books written by captains of Industry, Trade and those managing the commanding heights of India's elite institutions make drab reading for two reasons. First, there is little reflection of the history and politics of the time and their navel gazing obsession makes poor autobiography. Second, there is little insight into the momentous almost tectonic events that reshaped society right in their own life time and men write about their lives as if History has had no role to play. The book under discussion is guilty of both these major aberrations and i felt disappointed having read what seemed as an insightful peep into a high caste Brahmin household from the middle of the nineteenth century till the late twentieth century. Though there are a string of interesting anecdotes to liven up the narrative, the book is too obsessed about the "achievements" of the author and there is little reflection on the life and times behind the individual. I think Indians write poor autobiographies because they  are totally ignorant of the challenges of History.

The narrative deals with the family of an Iyengar land holding clan which lived in the Kaveri delta.  There is absolutely no awareness about the historical situation or condition that enabled the Vadakalai Iyengar family to emerge as powerful landed aristocracy of the region. Gopalkrishnan's attempt at placing his lineage in an overall historical context is pathetic. He recounts the (1) Vellore Mutiny and (2) the 1857 Mutiny as if his ancestors were aware of these events and were in a position to seize the historical and political import of these events. I seriously doubt the ability  of Ranga to ruminate on these events in the manner in which Gopalakrishanan has done in his book. Bogus historical recollections like the ones that he offers are not a substitute for reflections on men, events and circumstances. In a traditional Brahmin household the chronological span of memory does not extend beyond three generations and even here the memory is underpinned by the ritual demands placed by the Shradha ritual. Instead of inventing fictive conversations which fly in the face of what we know about the historical knowledge and insight of brahmins, it would be far better if Goplakrishnan had stuck to facts. What was life in the agrahara like? What were the inner tensions between different branches of the family? How were marriages arranged? Did brahmin women in the agrahara have friendship or liaisons with men outside the neighborhood?  These questions are not unimportant, as every Brahmin family has anecdotal information about girls running away with men and never reunited with their families ever again. In most cases, as indeed has happened in the case of my Gandfather's elder sister, there is no mention about the woman ever again in the household. In short, women who chose to assert their individual freedom are written out of the family narrative. I am raising these questions to underscore the partial and incomplete nature of Gopalkrihshna's narrative.

The book is an unabashed celebration of the life and achievements of the author. Obviously, the author and his children have doen well and the marker of their status the fact that many of them have advanced degrees from American Universities. But a more important question is skirted. Obviously when the author was growing up, the anti-brahmin, "rationalist" Dravidian Movement was on the rampage in the Tamil region. Like the Jews in Nazi Germany, the Brahmins were targeted by the Dravidian Movement in the most senseless manner. I remember my grandmother telling me that she as a young girl she was set upon by thugs near the Parthasarthi Temple in Madras who were obviously motivated by the hateful fascist ideology of the dravidian movement. I wonder why it has become necessary for men like Gopalakrishnan to blank out the horrid realities of Brahmin life in Tamil country. The migration to USA has saved many of them but what about those still lift in the Belly of the Beast.

As an extended portrayal of the life of a corporate boxwallah this book is adequate. But anyone interested in gaining insight into Brahmanical life and culture will be disappointed./

Obama and his Crimean Misadventure: Russian has genuine interests in the region

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The Western powers have once more started behaving like cold warriors, provoking Russia and hiding their aggression in a cloak of Democracy and Human Rights, a sanctimonious combination of realpolitik and ideological assertion. Nothing typifies this new conduct of the European Union and USA than the crisis over Russian involvement in the Ukraine and the subsequent merger of Crimea with the Russian Federation. People who rail against Russia seem to have forgotten recent history. It was in the Siege of Sebastipol  that Florence Nightingale earned her name and it was the same Crimean war that provided the occasion for bad poetry as well: we are all familiar with the Charge of the Light Brigade by England's poet laureate, Lord Tennyson. I am only recalling these facts to underscore the historical context of the recent events. Russia has had a presence in the Crimean Peninsula right from the waning years of the Ottoman Empire and the West always tried to thwart the legitimate interests of Russia. Now Vladmir Putin has succeeded and revered the  long imposed isolation of Crimea from Russia. In fact during the Soviet Era, Crimea was handed over to Ukraine for only administrative convenience.

Barack Obama, of course, has stated that the West will not recognize the "annexation" of Crimea.  Russia held a Referendum in which 96% of the people of the region voted for merger with Russia. Further, where was International Law that Obama and his allies talk now, when they bomber Serbia, imposed the UDI on Kossovo, and shat about the armed invasion of Iraq in defiance of the international community as represented by the UN. Russia has now followed the example of USA and her allies. There is yet another serious problem. When the Soviet leader Gorbochev allowed the unification of East and West Germany,he was given a solemn assurance by the US President that NATO will not be expanded to cover Eastern Europe. The collapse of USSR and the rise of USA as an imperial, post-Soviet power meant that the temptation to ring the erstwhile territories of USSR with military bases was too strong to be ignored and the expansion of the NATO into the territories of the Warsaw Pact nations is really at the heart of the problem.

The President of Ukariane, Viktor Yanukovitch who was duly elected and a legitimate ruler was overthrown by street mobs of rampaging neo-nazis armed and encouraged by the European Union. The overthrow of a legitimate government by rioters is always a cause of concern but not for Obama and his Merry men. Snipers who killed nearly 100 people during the course of the anti Yanukovich protests are now hailed as great freedom fighters. Russia should have intervened militarily and stopped the mayhem on the street of Kiev, but Putin held his horses.In all fairness, Russia cannot allow its security to be permanently jeopardised by Ukaraine and the EU. Yet, Vladmir Putin showed remarkable statesmanship and restraint. The fear of Ukraine joining NATO is all to real to be ignored and the European Union is following the the Nazi policy of expansion by invoking the rhetoric of Democracy and Human Rights, rhetoric that hides the war crimes of USA in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ukraine during world war II set a horrible example of collaboration with the Nazis and the same forces are being harnessed now to legitimize Western intervention. More than one million jews were killed in Ukraine during the War and men like Stepan Bandera were really Nazis not nationalists. The Russian leadership is aware of the potential for Ukraine to divide on its east-west axis with the Russian majority eastern part joining the Russian federation and the western part becoming a rump member of the NATO. Given this volotile scenario, Vladmir Putin took steps to protect the vital national interests of Russia. The merger of Crimea with Russia and the eventualbreakup of the independent state of Ukaraine can be blamed on the misguded policy of the EU of encouraing the neo-nazi natioanlists.

Obama and the European Union has imposed 'sanctions" on Russian leaders. The world should also impose sanctions on American politicians for the crimes that country is comitting in different parts of the world.

The Well of Sorrows at Ajnala, PUnjab: History Rediscovered, Martyrdom Reinvented

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The ghosts of Punjab's bloodied past has the uncanny habit of raising up at the most inopportune time. History has to be accounted for and airbrushing inconvenient truths of the past may work in the short run, but finally History will have the last laugh. Just at the very moment that the Congress Party in India thought that it had exorcized the ghosts of the state sponsored pogrom which the party organized in 1984 after one of their leaders was killed, came the revelation that Indira Gandhi has sought the aid of the British Government in helping her draw up the plans for the attack on the Holiest of Holy shrines of the Sikhs, the Golden Temple at Amritsar. The discovery of the letters relating to this episode in India's recent past is bound to have a decisive impact on the Sikh vote in the Punjab. The British Prime Minister for reason best known to him came to the city of Amritsar and apologized for the "Jalianwallah Bagh Massacre" of 1919. One more ghost from the past seemingly laid to rest. Now just as things were beginning to quieten down, the discovery of the Well containing the bones of the soldiers who were summarily executed in 1857 has been uncovered not far from Amritsar, a place known as Ajnala. For some reason the Well was known as Kalion ka Kuan or the Well of the Blacks and now there is a clamor for the name to be changed to Shidon ki Kuan or the Well of Martyrs.

The picture given alongside shows some of the bones discovered during the course of a week long excavation at the local Gurudwara in which the well was located. Under nearly ten feet of soil the bones had been buried. More than 5000 bone fragments, 89 skulls, traces of clothing, metal coins and other artifacts were uncovered. The Congress Party ever eager to appropriate the past to its own political purposes sought through Amrinder Singh to have the place declared a monument to the Heroes of 1857 a proposal which was rightly shot down by the Akalis. The Akali position that the Sikhs were not involved in the Revolt of 1857, of course, raises the even more historically troubling question about the role of the Sikhs in the suppression of the Mutiny in 1858 along with the Madras Fusiliers under General James Smith Neill.

The Sepoys of the 26th Native Infantry who were stationed at Mia Mir Cantonment near Lahore revolted and headed towards Amritsar. The Deputy Commissioner of the town, Fredrick Cooper, had his European and "loyal" troops march against the rebels and a large number of them were killed. Around 282 men were captured and later killed and the bones discovered seem to be the remains of the rebels. The immediate provocation for the brutal suppression and summary execution of the 26th Native Infantry was due to the murder of their commanding officer, Major Spencer. 

The documents given above are from the Parliamentary Papers pertaining to the Revolt of 1857. The statement of Lt. Governor of the Province, Sir R Montgomery shows that the British Government was aware of the illegal and brutal suppression of the rebels and were also aware of the illegal manner in which the 282 were executed. One more ghost from the past

The 2014 Parliamentary Elections in India: A look at the Campaign and the trends

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The Election Commission of India has announced the Poll Schedule and the upcoming 2014 Elections will be the longest and the most hard fought in Indian electoral history. Spread over a month, the 9 phases in which the Elections have been divided, are designed to move security forces around the country so that ;aw and order can be maintained. I expect this particular election to be violent as the Indian National Congress is facing the prospect of losing power and it is encouraging its storm troopers to disrupt the polls. Part of the strategy has been outsources to the AAM ADMI PARTY which has already started attacking BJP election offices and is threatening to  unleash unbridled violence as part of its campaign. Unfortunately, the rapid decline of the Congress  has made the AAP the only visible symbol of the social constituency which once supported the Congress at least in the urban pockets of northern India. The BJP and the Congress have attacked each other with guston and verve and of course, the Congress has used its courtiers to hurl the worst kind of abuses at the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate: Narendra Modi. Mani Shankar Iyer, a Cambridge educated factotum of the ruling dynasty mocked Modi by calling his a "chai wallah" and the Foreign Minister of India Salman Kurshid even used the word "impotent" to describe Modi, words that have outraged the Indian public. The rhetorical assault launched by the Congress Party is directly proportional to the slide in iys electoral fortunes. The BJP, on the other hand, has maintained studied silence and has not responded in kind.

The real reasons for the ease with which the NDA led by the BJP is hurtling towards victory are to be seen in the changing character of the Indian electorate. India is a young country in terms of its demography and the first time voters represent an aspirational  India which want better jobs, education, health and civic infrastructure. This group is not into the old style identity politics by which political parties played one caste against the other and cobbled up a majority. Modi has taken young India by storm as he connects successfully with the young by his vision of a vibrant India in which modern Industry and Infrastructure will usher in a better life syle and improve the living standards of the people. He has successfully demonstrated the efficacy of his model of development in Gujarat. Business confidence will certainly improve and much needed Foreign Investment will start flowing once the corruption infested Congress regime is unsaddled. Apart for the young voters and the issue of corruption, there are other issues that are playing out in the minds of the voter. There is a perception that India's standing among the major nations of the world has falled during the watch of the UPA II. The lack of respect for Indian concerns and the manner in whcih USA treated a senior diplomat, Devyani Khobragade, did not go down well in India. The electorate is angry that the dignity of an Indian woman, a diplomat and a representative of India was slighted is so egregious a manner. On the foreign policy front, Modi who attacked Pakistan for its barbarity in killing Indian soldiers and by drawing pointed attention to the frequent incursions into India by China, Modi has signaled that the image of a soft India will be contested. The Economy is in shambles and only Gujarat is showing double digit growth figures. The UPA regime tried to fudge poverty figures and derive propaganda by making it appear that its flagship schemes like the rural income schemes have made a difference to the lives of millions. The truth is that the schemes like the rest of the UPA was riddled with corruption and very little actually reached the people.

Political mismanagement has  also helped the NDA. The Congress for purely electoral  gain decided to divide the state of Andhra Pradesh and hoped that the formation of Telengana will ensure a substantial win in the Telengana region. Even here the electoral gain is not for the Congress but the local ally and the BJP. The unseemly politics over the release of the killers of Rajiv Gandhi has paid put the chances of a Congress revival in Tamil Nadu. Senior leaders like the discredited P Chidambaram have no where to go. Even in the 2009 General Elections, Chidmabaram was actually defeated in the Sivagangai parliamentary election but got himself declared elected by fraud and this time he will be defeated if he stands anywhere in Tamil Nadu.

The BJP is coasting to a target of around 230 to 249 seats at the moment. In Uttar Pradesh and Bihar which together contribute 120 seats the BJP is likely to win around 80 and set the stage for Narendra Modi;s appointment as Prime Minister of India. Both these politically crucial states are in the hands of regional satraps who have failed in the onerous task of governance. UP has seen nearly 250 riots during the past few months and the regime of the Samajwadi party has only given a thumbs up to law breakers known in local parlance as "goondas". Nitish Kumar broke his alliance with the BJP hoping to tie up with the Congress but that has fallen through and in the upcoming election he will bite the dust.

By the time Mid May 2014 arrives India will have a new government and the election of Narendra Modi looks certain.

The Hindus: An Altyernative History by Wendy Doniger: Why it deserves to be banned

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

Ever since Edward Said postulated the enduring link between western/ white scholarship and economic and cultural hegemony the world  has been sensitive to the fact that it is West which is capable of representing the non White societies and civilizations and in the process make the rest of the world accept the categories of thought and analytical models as "academic" discourse. I need not state the obvious" It is not possible for any non western civilization except China, to study, dissect, analyze and represent the Western world. Intellectual products are also representations of domination and hegemony, except that the Western World pretends that its constructions and representations of the non western world stem from its inherent intellectual strength: objective analysis, historical method, social sensitivity and the like. Any attempt by the non western world to turn these tools of analysis on the west itself is generally shrugged off as polemical and unworthy of academic respectability. In short, the non white world cannot represent itself, it has to be represented only by white scholars and academics. It does not matter at all that these academics are pursuing an ideological goal in which western hegemony is beyond the margins of debate.

It is against this background that wer have to see the book which has been at the centre of a major controversy in India. Wendy Doniger who sported the Irish O'Flaretty some years back when I met her at the campus of the University of Hawaii when I was a student there, has published a think volume entitled, The Hindus: An Alternative History. A little known social organization called Sikha Bachao Andolan has succeeded in making Penguin Books, her publisher pulp the volumes of this text and withdraw the book from circulation. Earlier there was Laine's book on Shivaji which suffered a similar fate at the hands of the Congress Party and its fringe elements in Maharashtra. Stanley Wolpert's Ten Hours to Rama was officially banned in India though the other books including Wendy's have not been banned. Therefore the state cannot be blamed for the tribulations of this book. In a soft state like India which has been made even more soft by corruption and mal administration, the state cannot be relied upon to protect the dignity of the Indian Civilization. Private groups have to come forward and defend India.

Wendy Doniger writes in an offensive manner about India and its civilization. What she has written is not History and to call the work an "alternative history" is just a rhetorical flourish.Revered Indian heroes and religious icons are subjected to unbridled attack in the name of academic study. I canmot understand how a woman like Wendy Doniger can write about Goddess Durga in a demeaning manner. Being a Jew perhaps a lapsed Jew, Doniger need not revere Indian Gods and Goddesses but she does not have the right to belittle them or speak in a tone and tenor that devalues the spiritual value of these icons. India is an idea that is animated by the images of these gods and goddesses and Wendy has no right to humiliate a civilization whcih has lasted for three thousand years.

Unfortunately India is not China and no American will take liberties with China. And India too is changing and it no longer regards the Westerner as having an inalienable right to demean his religion, society and culture.
                                                      I am extremely disappointed in the response of some of our prominent intellectuals who have come out in open defence of the book and have taken Penguin to task for not standing up to the  organization which succeeded in forcing the publishers to withdraw the book. I personally bought a copy of this book after the controversy broke out and am not sure if Penguin Books are really sincere about their offer to withdraw and pulp the copies of Wendy's book. Will any Western country including USA tolerate a scurrilous attack on their civilization in the name of acadelmic freedom. India has a coupe of centuries to go before it can even think of taking on the West on its own turf. Till then we have to defend our culture.

Telengana Issue stokes violence in the Indian Parliament

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The Indian Parliament was rocked by unprecedented violence today over the vexed question of the division of the state of Andhra Pradesh by carving out the state of Telengana from the existing state of Andhra Pradesh. The Indian Constitution defines India as a Union of States and it is perhaps not quite legal for the Congress Party to separate Telengana from Andhra Pradesh when the state assembly rejected the resolution authorising the division. The Congress regime for reasons of gaining some electoral advantage decided to table the bill for the separation of Telengana from Andhra Pradesh in the Indian parliament. The Leader of the Opposition, Sushma Swaraj, has stated that there was no discussion with the Prime Minister over the introduction of the bill. Without a concensus the Congress decided to table the bill and pandemonium broke out.

The historical background of the demand for separate Telengana goes back to the heady days after Independence when Nehru decided to constitute the States Reorganization Commission in order the created linguistic states as the basic bulding blocks of the federal polity of India. In hind sight it is clear that the linguistic division of states that valorized language as the major marker of identity was a huge mistake as it has led to identity politics on a scale that is both complex and self destructive. Andhra Pradesh as irony would have it took the lead as it was the 90 day fast unto death by Potti Sriramalu which hastened the process of the creation of lingusitic states. The Telengana region which essentially consisted of the Nizam's dominions wanted to maintain its unique identity even as early as the 1950s and the region;s leaders made impassioned pleas for the preservation of what they though were the unique features of Telengana regional identity and pride. Nehru, the doddering and dithering man that he was gave the assurance that Telengan could opt out of the union with Andhra if it so desired. Just as this man made a mess in Kashmir, he was really responsible for this controversy too. Successive Congress regimes have won elections by pandering to regional aspirations and after the victory precious little was done. In the 2009 General Elections, the state of Andhra Pradesh was responsible for the return of the UPA as 33 Congress MPs were returned to the Lok sabha. Many of us feel that Andhra by voting the Congress is now paying a heavy price for its sin.

After promising statehood to the people of Telengana the Union Home mInister, P Chidambaram made an announcement on 9th December 2009 that the "process for the creation of the new state " would be set in motion. This announcement galvanized the people of the other two region of Andhra Prodesh, the Coastal region and Rayalseema. Stiff opposition was mounted in both these regions and the Central Government bought some time by setting up the Sri Krihna Committee to study the whole question whether the new state was viable or not. Sri Krishna recommended that division should  be the last option. The region of Telengana has suffered from economic backwardness and though there are hydro electic plants on the Krishna, the benefit does not accrue to the people of the region. The capital city, Hyderabad which attracted a lot of capital from the coastal region emerged as a modern and vibrant urban area with the Computer/ Soft ware firms, Central Government educational and research institutions  and offices. The money made in coastal Andhra Pradesh was invested in Hyderabad. Kurnool could have been developed as an alternate city/ capital but the emphasis was on Hyderabad.

The rise of a street smart politician, K Chandrasekar Rao and the party that he established faught the 2009 elections on the plank of separate Telengana and he could win only 2 seats out of 17 in the region. The failure to win a respectable number of seats clearly implied the rejection of the separate Telengana, but the Congress for its own cynical reasons decided to forge an alliance with the TRS and announced the intention of creating a separate state. The real issue here was the insecurity of the Congress whose performance was just deplarable. By dividing the state and merging the TRS with the Congress, the leaders of the Congress hoped to gain some safe electoral seats.

This morning when the bill was introduced in Parliament, the MPs from the coastal region and from Rayalseema created an unprecedented pandemonium in the Lok Sabha. One Congress MP Rajagopal even brought a knife into the Parliament and MPs attacked each other with paper weights and pulled out mikes. The Speaker of the Lok Sabha one Meira Kumar was forced to adjourn the house.

Now people are asking the question: Who is responsible for the mess. The Congress Party MPs were the main perpetrators of the violence as they felt that with the creation of a separate state of Telengana their political future would be doomed. Coastal Andhra hjas invested heavily in Telengana and there was pressure put on the central governemnt to protect the investments by making Hyderabad a Union Territory, a plea that was rejected by the TRS. The BJP which supports the creation of Telengana does not want to help the Congress get the credit for the creation of the new state nad hence has distanced itself from the whole issue. The BJP seems to say to the Congress" You created the mess now you clean it up. The violence and disruption caused by the Congress Party  by its thoughtless move to create a new state so as to get a few seats in the next parliament shows the depths to which the dynastic fascists can descend. Only the people of Andhra are suffering.

TRANQUEBAR: NEW STUDIES AND PERSPECTIVES

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

Trnaquebar--Whose History? Transnational Cultural Heritage in a Former Danish Trading
Colony in South India

Helle Jorgensen
New Delhi, Orient Black Swan, 2014

Cultural Encounters in India: The Local Co-workers of the Tranquebar Mission 18th and 19th Centuries 

Heike Liebau
New Delhi, Social Science Press 2014

The recent changes in historiographical fashion has left its mark on these two books. The post colonial obsession with identity, ideology and self-refashioning has contributed to the gradual erasure of colonialism as a violent and at times racist attack on the cultures of non- White peoples. Post colonial nostalgia and the distance from the colonial past has made some of the more comfortable Europeans look back at the past of their societies with a certain degree of pride and conscious self awareness. Tranquebar, a small trading post of the Danish East India Company on the East Coast of India, better known as the Coromandel coast, has had a checkered  past; after the Napoleonic wars, the Danes essentially lost control over the trading post leaving a murky legacy of Christian evangelism, Slaving, Textile Trade and the most celebrated of all, the Printing Press. Print culture started in Traquebar and though there is some evidence to suggest that Serampore near Calcutta may have had an earlier start, the legacy of Tranquebar lives on both in popular memory and in scholarly texts.

In the first book, Helle Jorgensen looks at the interaction between the local population of Tranquebar and foreign tourists from Northern Europe who flood the place. Tranquebar has been the subject of a major experiment in restoration and conservation of the colonial buildings and tourists from Europe perceive a connect between their own subjective selves and the remote outpost of European settlement in Asia. Remarkably, the author seems to suggest that the presence of the old style European colonial buildings in the settlement are a boon to the local people whose economy revolves around catering to those tourists.  Partly an ethnographic study and partly an extended reflection on the meaning and significance of heritage and its conservation, this book completely ignores the Indian perspective. While India no longer frets and fumes at European colonialism as a new generation which has come of age in the post Independence period does not regard the eighteenth and nineteenth century past with great trepidation. However, it is utterly condescending to write as if the local context does not matter at all. Worse, in the name of heritage and tourism, the past cannot be whitewashed and made palatable.

The second book is a more substantial contribution and it explores the relationship between the Lutheran Mission and its leadership in Tranquebar and the Tamil population it apparently ministered. Bartholmaus Ziegenbalg, the Protestant missionary is the subject of an excellent biography by B Singh. He is rightly remembered in India as the man who introduced Print and thereby brought about a revolution in the social and cultural history of India. He studies Tamil and within a couple of years of his stay was able to write psalms  and catechisms or prayer books in simple Tamil for the people living in the hinterland of Tranquebar. His papers preserved at Halle  give us a picture of a man driven by a deep and abiding faith in religion who did not forget his European identity throughout his stay in India. While the contemporary Jesuits went native and adopted Indian dress and customs, Ziegenbalg was always attired in the frock coat and top hat.  He established a school where children were taught and even a factory for making paper. The site of this factory is unfortunately lost. He eventually dies in Tranquebar and is buried in the cemetry of the Zion Church which he built and consecrated.  The book gives details of the relationship with other Christian missions in the region such as SPCK. The issue of caste and identity cannot be wished away as many of the early converts came from the Vellala peasant background and eventually the other castes joined the Church raising issues which the Christian Church both Catholic and Protestant have not resolved until this day.

Both these books are significant contributions to the study of the early colonial past of Southern India.

Tranquebar

The Fort facing the Coromandel Coast

Chinese Porcelain from Tranquebar

Danish Historical Documents

 The Zion Church built by Ziegenbalg

The Restored mansion of the Governor

The Election Campaign and the Prospects of a stable Government in India: May 2014

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The Election Campaign for the 2014 General Elections in India have started. All the major parties have started their run up for the elections with the BJP under Narendra Modi leading the pack. A few week back it appeared that the BJP was heading for a 300+ seats in the LOK SABHA. Now a new uncertain factor has entered. A clutch of regional parties like the BJD, the JD (U), the AIADMK and a number of smaller parties with limited electoral prospects have entered into an alliance of sorts, styling themselves, the Federal Front. From what we have been able to gather, this new front is only a rehashing of the Third Front whose stated objective is to maintain a equal distance from both the Congress and the BJP. However, in the name of fighting "communal" forces the Third Front can be expected to side with the Congress should there be a fractured verdict. The ease with which the Congress is able to muster support against the BJP makes the task of the National Campaign of the BJP that much more arduous. The anti BJP and anti Congress public stance will last till the elections as the regional parties do not want to share the responsibilty for the criminal acts of monumental corruption which has gone on under the Congress. The so called Federal Front expects the Congress to prop up its Government just to keep the BJP out. Since this game stands exposed let us now turn our attention to the BJP Campaign.

Narendra Modi has had a series of very successful rallies/ In Meerut, Gokarkpur and Kolkatta Narendra Modi addressed massive rallies. If the turn out in these rallies is any indication of ground reality, then we can rest assured that the BJP will sail through to victory. However, Indian politics is neither that simple nor predictable, In all these rallies Narendra Modi addressed a litany of local issues and was able to link them with major national questions: insecurity due to increased terrorist activities and the UPA;s lackluster handling of them, the massive price rise which has sapped the people and of course the monumental corruption have all been brought to the attention of the people. The issue of governance has now taken centre stage and India seems to be moving away from the old style identity politics to embrace a more inclusive and purposeful vision of politics. Narendra Modi worls his magic with the crowds and has the Congress really alarmed as the Congress does not have a single leader of stature who can conncet with the people. In most rallies the crowd was arounf 400,000 to 500,000 and is a huge figure even by Indian standards.

The BJP campaign strategy is three fold. First, it is selling the Gujarat model of economic development as one of successful developmement. In spite of obstacles placed on its path, Gujart has been able to notch up growth figures of 8 to 9% annually and the infrastructure in the state is almost of western standards. In all the rallies, Narendra Modi drove home the point: bijali, sadak, pani--electricity, roads and drinking water. Secondly, the BJP has successfully targeted the Congress and its top brass for Corruption. The 2G Spectrum Scandal, the Coalgate scandal and more recently the Westland Helicopter Scandal has landed the Congress in an unenviable situation and has made feeble attempts to deflect the charge, Now the impression has gained ground that the Corruption of the Congress is the one single factor that inhibits developemt and Narendra Modi and his Government may be guilty of unconventional politics, but corruption is not one of his weak points. None of the other state governments can match that record. Finally, the focus has now shifted from 2002 Riots in Gujarat to the Congress sponsored massacre of 1984 when the Congress party organized a massive pogrom of killing Sikhs when one of their leaders was eliminated. And for this shift of focus, the BJP has to thank bloggers like this one who relentlessly kept the 1984 in the public eye and of course, the rather inane and meaningless remarks of the dynastic mascot, Rahul Gandhi.

All national surveys show the BJP and its allies in the NDA reaching a figure of around 225+ out of 242 and the Congress Party may not cross even into three digit numbers/ The Federal Front is expected to do well and if it reaches around 200 or so then the Congress will extend support and encourage it to form thr next regime. However, the people of India are aware of the dangers of a fractured mandate and this time around we can expect a decisive mandate. The Congress party has started floundering. Its leader Sonia Gandhi's statements about the BJP have evoked hostile response and the Telengana issue has already started snowballing into a huge problem for the Congress. The ham handed manner in which Chidambaram as Home Minister handled the whole Telengana issue so that he could get a safe MP seat from Telngana has come back to haunt the Congress.

As usual let me end by making the prediction that BJP will emerge as the largest pre poll block in the next Lok Sabha.

Sunanda Pushkar and the Indian Political Elite: Tweets of a Death Foretold

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

Sunanda Pushkar, the wife of the Union Minister for Education, Dr Sashi Tharoor, was found dead in a holel room in New Delhi on January 17th 2014. The events preceding her death are extremely important. Apparently she discovered an Affair between Tharoor and a Pakistani woman, Mehr Tarar. Tharoor had saved the name of this woman on his mobile under the gender bending name of Harish. On the flight from Trivandrum to New Delhi this couple had a public spat after which she took her husband's mobile and made public the emails between the woman in Pakistan and Tharoor. Inn her last and final tweet she made a threat which her death a few hours later can be interpreted in different ways: I have taken the blame for this man's IPL crimes  and I am not willing to take anything "lying down"/ In the same tweet she discloses that Mehr Tarar was an ISI agent.

The reference to the IPL could trigger the memory of the scandal in 2010 when the Kochi Tusker IPL franchise was allotted to Sunanda Pushkar as "sweat equity". This scandal came to light because Lalit Modi, the IPL honcho tweeted about it and Tharoor was forced to quit his post as the MoS for External Affairs. Soon thereafter the two married and Sunanda Pushkar shifted to Delhi from Dubai. This woman has been quite unfortunate in the men she chose to have in her life. She divorced her first husband within week of her marriage and married his friend Sajith Menon who was the father of her 21 year old son, Shiv Menon. She then married Sahshi Tharoor who is close to the record of Henry VIII as far as matrimonial statistics is concerned. The relationship fell apart under the twin strains of Tharoor's serial infidelity and the stressses and strains of being a Miniter in a fractious UPA regime. In fact on the day she dies, her husband was attedning the special AICC Session in which Rahul Gandhi was all but nominated for the post of PM in the unlikely event of the dynastic fascists coming to power.

The Police investigation was certainly full of unexpected surprises. Though the Family of Tahroor and Sunanda were both interested in floating the theory that the lady died due to a fatal mixture of "wrong medication, stress and exhaustion". the autopsy revealed that her death was caused by poisoning.  And the examination of the viscera has also more or less confirmed that she died due to induced poisoning. And to make matters worse, the autopsy revealed injury marks all over the body of Sunanda, evidence of either domestic violence or a scuffle with her killers.  The Indian Media jhas been very lukewarm in the way this crime was handled. Taroor enjoys a good rapport with the English speaking media because he is said to be a noted writer, scholar and an internationally acclaimed diplomat. While the petty affair of the woman who was being protected on the request of her father by the Gujarat Police resulted in the Congress regime trying to embarrass the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Gujarat by ordering a Judicial Inquiry, there is no attempt to find the truth of the death of Sunanda. It is entirely another matter that the Government of India could not find even a single judge to head the Inquiry it ordered.

There are a number of unanswered questions:
1, What do the injury marks on her body indicate?
2  Is there any truth in the allegation made by Sunanda that Mehr Tarar is an ISI agent
3. Why was the woman who was obviously ill left alone and unsupervised in a hotel room>
4  Why is the family keen to stop the Investigation and close the case as an "accidental death".

The people of Trivandrum voted for Tharoor and he has brought only scandal and shame upon them. Hopefully next time around they will atone for their mistake.

The Challenge of the AAM ADMI PARTY; How to confront the Great White Hope of Indian Politics

A  look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

Urban India is witnessing a novel political phenomenon: the rise and rise of the Aam Admi Party. The anti corruption movement launched by Anna Hazare was accompanied by a surge of civil society activism against corruption in India and the victory of the Aam Admi Party can be traced directly to the political consciousness roused by the movement of Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare. While the former supports the BJP under Hon'ble Narendra Modi as the political alternative, Anna Hazare decided to remain apolitical. His chosen disciple Arvind Khejriwal decided to break away and form a political party (the AAP) which rolled to power with the support of the Congress party and is now the ruling party in Delhi. It is time to assess the strengths of this new force and try to evaluate its impact on the 2014 Elections to the Lok Sabha. The BJP can ignore the AAP only at its own risk and must take steps to counter its appeal.

Until the victory of the AAP it was generally held that the BJP will emerge victorious in the 2014 General Elevtions with Narendra Modi as the next Prime Minister. Now the picture is not that sanguine. primarily due to the politics of the Aam Admi Party. Led by a former Indian Revenue Officer, Shri Arvind Khejriwal (around 45 tyars old). the AAP seized control over the reins of Government in Delhi after the BJP declined to form the Government. The BJP won 32 seats, a few seats short of an absolute majority. The AAP after declaring publicly that it will not seek the support of the Congress, a party with a national notoriety for Crime, Corruption and Communalism, had no problem in getting the support of the Congress which is extending crucial support from outside the Government to sustain the Government. This arrangement is neither politically valid nor an ethical one as both Parties snipe at each other all the time and yet the Congress voted in favor of the APP in the Delhi assembly a few days back. I do not think this arrangement will last beyond a couple of months as the Congress will be badly dented if the AAP succeeds.

Arvind Kejriwal played to the gallery like a pro. He rode a metro train to the Capital to take the vote of Office at Delhi's Ram Lila Grounds where he sat on dharna along with his mentor. Such a populiost gesture went down well with the people who love to see their "High Officials" appear ordinary. What is forgotten is the fact that to keep the pretence of Arvind Khejriwal's pro poor image huge public expenditure was incurred in order to secure the metro route. A mere gesture, a nod in the direction of the common man, a supreme act of condescension is taken as proof of the simplicity and honesty of Arvind Khejriwal. Let us give him his moment.

The policy initiatives taken by the AAP even before it secured a vote of confidence is proof of the absolute disregard for the public exchequer. Announcing subsidies to the tune of 3, 500 crore rupees, the electricity bills of the consumers in New Delhi got some relief. However, the long term solution to the problem of energy pricing lies not in subsidies but in augmented power generation and the AAP has no clue as to what to do. Arvind Khejriwal is a mechanical engineer trained in IIT, Kharaghpur in West Bengal and he may have some idea of the problems inherent in his solutions.

The political phenomenon called the AAP is new to Indian politics. For long the political discourse has been dominated by issues of personality and identity. The AAP has shifted the discourse to issues concerning the common man: water, electricity, public safety, and corruption. The shift to a non identity based politics is welcome. However, it was Narendra Modi who shifted the emphasis on Governance rather than identity. The appeal of this new kid on the block to the post 1990's generation is obvious. Liberalism initiated by Narashima Rao in the 1990's has spawned a whole generation whose politics is shaped by live issues concerning everyday life and problems. The network created by the AAP during the heady days of the Anna Agitation paid huge dividents. The AAP was able to articulate the problems of the people of small neighbourhoods because it had a dedicated cadres working here. This networked interaction with localities using GIS and other sophisticated tools of analysis makes the AAP a viable force/ The bJP will do well to invest more tiem amnd energy in drawing out local issues spread over 532 Parliamentary consituencies instead of banking entirely on the charisma of Hon'ble Narendra Modi.

On balance, the AAP is certainly a new force but its alliance with the Congress will spell its doom.