The Autobiography of Sashi Deshpande: An Award Wapsi Looks Back

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

Indians do not write autobiographies or for that matter good History. The ability to reflect on the fleeting moments of time which constitute our lives and seize that moment even as it dissolves, is the stuff of History and autobiographers choose to locate their puny little lives against the grand events that unfold before their eyes, trying to find meaning for their existence. The Indian tradition of both autobiography and History is the katha, the oral narrative, a story. Sashi Despande has caught this peculiarity of Indian psyche by calling her autobiography,  Listen to Me. 

Sashi Deshpandeis the daughter of the well known Kannada writer and playwright, Shriranga. and she carries the burden of her father's astounding literary legacy rather lightly. Belonging to an educated Deshasta family from Karnataka with her family on maternal side having ties with Pune.

Add Listen to Me

 Her father was a teacher of Sanskrit in a well known college in Dhrawad where she was born and educated. It appears that her father had some vague sympathy for the fashionable leftist causes and hence lost his job and family suffered considerable humiliation as a consequences. Living on the handouts of well off relatives is not a pleasant experience and Sashi's early childhood memories are marred with such slights. Her sister studied medicine and her brother went on to get a Ph D in Physics from the University of Pennsylvania, USA. However tragedy was snapping at the heels and her brother lost his mind and died in NIMHANS, Bangalore. She writes about the events in her life with a sense of detachment and even candour. However, her autobiography reads like an extended Curriculum Vitae dwelling  on her external life-- the books she has written, the awards she received, the famous people she encountered and the literary impact she made in the field of Indians Writing in English. There is little about her personal life and the only character whom she allows us to meet from her life is her father. She even mentions that in a letter discovered after his death, her father wanted his children to stand on their own legs, a statement she promptly dissects using the categories of gender so popular today.

Being the wife of a successful doctor meant travel and she did not have to earn her livelihood and after the birth of her two sons she decided to dedicate herself entirely to writing. She penned 11 novels and a large number of short stories and she won the Sahitya Academy Award for her book, the Dark Holds no Terror. And  this brings us to her latest incarnation as an Awars Wapsi.

Sashi Deshpande is quite forceful in her denunciation of the Emergency and she also states that Rajiv Gandhi was to be blamed for the Sikh Riots that killed 5000 Sikhs in the national capital  after his mother was shot dead. These confessions are welcome as it established a certain authenticity in her work. However, as in the case of other Award Wapsi heroes her decision to return the Sahitya Academy Award was motivated by personal ties with Professor M M Kalburgi who was killed by unknown assailants. A tendency to blame the Right Wing for  all unfortunate events has become the credo of the so called Indian Intellectual. She rushed to return her award and was, of course , hailed as a great conscience keeper of the Loony Left

In spite of such unthinking forays into the public realm, this book is an interesting read. At least it is readable and there are occasional flashes of insight. While she does reflect on the plight of brahmins in India she does not denounce the discrimination that shadows them.

What China and India Once were: The Pasts that May Shape the Global Future A Review

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

What China and India Once Were: The Pasts the May Shape the Global Future
Ed, Sheldon Pollock and Benjamin Elman
New York: Columbia University Press
2018.

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Sheldon Pollock has waded into far too many controversies in India, and I must say that his interventions have served no purpose whatsoever except to distract people from the seminal contribution he made to the study of Indian Literary Culture and History in his Language of the Gods in the World of Men. Unfortunately, Sheldon Pollock has become a highly divisive public figure and his broadsides against India and its politics are not his primary call for attention. He is a distinguished scholar and the book edited by him and Benjamin Elman are important interventions in the study of the histories and pasts of China and India.

China and India share a common historical trajectory. Both were highly sophisticated civilizations with a long tradition of scholarship: Mandarin in the case of China and Sanskrit in the case of India. Both were victims of foreign conquest and both civilizations had to deal with questions of political legitimacy, administrative control, protecting the frontiers. While China realized quite early that the Steppes of Central Asia posed a considerable challenge to the stability of the Middle Kingdom and constructed the Great Wall as a physical barrier against invasion, Indian rulers unfortunately had no such wisdom. India was easy to invade as the path to the Gangetic Plain was open to any invader who crossed the Hindu Kush Mountains. China dealt with its perennial problem of devastating floods by constructing the Grand Canal which connected the Yellow River with the Yangtze River, running across China for a length of more than 1800 kilometers. Remarkably this waterway was completed as early as the Tang Period , in the 9th century. Significantly, the new capital Beijing was now accessible to the grain growing areas of southern and central China. Indian dynasties hardly encouraged any construction of comparable social utility and value. The Mughals the contemporaries of the Ching and earlier the Ming were content building tombs and the Timurid rulers though blessed with both curiosity and insight did not attempt anything quite so spectacular. Obviously, there are historical reasons for the difference.

The book reviewed herein looks at a variety of cultural practices from a comparative perspective. Flora and Fauna and its social value in China and India form an interesting part of the first chapter. The elephant became extinct in China fairly early in its history. whereas in India it flourishes until this day. Though none of the rulers seem to have had a conscious conservation policy, India attitudes towards nature was far more reverential than in China. Long distance trade was encouraged at least till the end of the Ming Era. In India, the long coast line spawned a range of communities which specialized in long distance trade: the Kutchi merchants and the Chettiyars come to ones mind immediately.

The advent of modernity both in India and China are beset with both conceptual and historiographical issues. The periodization derived from western perceptions defy smooth transition both in the case of India and China. It is now recognized that both these Asian giants are now re-entering the Global Economy and if Sheldon Pollock is to be believed on their own terms. China has completely transformed its economy while India still struggles with the age old issues of caste hierarchies social problems and of course poverty. China has succeeded in areas in which India has failed miserably. The One Party system seems to have helped China and India's raucous rowdy democracy has been a drag on the energies of the nation. Perhaps the time has come to rethink the developmental paradifms embraced by these two Nations.

One point on which the book is extremely insightful is the History and its uses in both these countries. China developed a strong tradition of writing Local and Dynastic History from the early Han Dynasty. In India, Historiography did not make much headway until the arrival of the Turks who brought with them their own models of Historical texts. Perhaps the lack of critical thought except in the speculative areas of Linguistics and Philosophy may have inhibited the development of Historical ideas in India.

This is a good book and policy makers interested in India and China must read it.

Politics over Sardar Patel's Legacy

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

The Patel Statue

There is no gainsaying the fact that History is being re visited today in India. Since Independence the State has propagated a version of history which, while serving the needs of the politically dominant party, the Indian National Congress and its central dynasty.has left a large number of gaping holes in the Narrative. Foremost is the question whether the Indian National Congress did enough to prevent Partition and its huge cost in terms of human life and suffering. Second, if Partition was inevitable as the "historians" of Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Leftist acolytes argue, can they tar all those who opposed Partition as "communal" elements "reactionaries" "obscurantists" and the list is endless. One reason for the lack of diversity in contemporary Historiography of India is the fact that the historical profession has been prevented from reassessing the role of the Indian National Congress in the Struggle for Indian Independence. The recent attempts on the part of the Modi Government to draw attention to the contribution of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose and Sardar Vallabha Bhai Patel are step in the right direction.

First the Statue. One of the many canards that are being spread by the mainstream media is that Modi seeks to "appropriate" the legacy of Sardar Patel. It is unclear hos the mere dedication of a National Monument is appropriation of a legacy. Also there are those in the Congress party who say that since the Patels are restive and are no longer the backbone of the BJP in Gujarat, Modi is seeking to assuage Patel Asmita or Pride. Reducing Patel to a mere icon of caste identity is to distort and undermine the stature of Patel. But then who has ever accused the Indian National Congress and the Dynastic Fascists of caring for people's sentiments or historical accuracy.  The fact is the Nrendra Modi proposed the Memorial to Sardar Patel in 2010 long before he became Prime Minister and in 2010 there was no sign of Modi emerging as the Prime Minister of India. By distorting the very chronology there is attempt to politicize the Monument. Construction began in 2013 and this was also before Modi became the Prime Minister. Projecting History backwards in a teleological arrangement is the favorite tactic of the JNU bran of Historiography and of course, give it a political spin to make that distortion resonate with "progressive" opinion.

Then the cost. The cost of the memorial works out to be 2854 crores. A huge sum of money. The justification for this spectacular Monument lies in the manner in which Patel was treated. A fact that is little recognized in modern Historiography of India is that Patel was chosen by 12 out of 15 Provincial Congress Committees to head the Congress in 1946 and would have become Prime Minister in the Interim Government. Nehru forced Gandhi to seek the resignation of Patel. A repeat of the Bose fiasco all over and given the enormous respect Patel had for Gandhi he stepped aside and let Nehru become the Prime Minister. This singular fact is hidden from History. Further, as the first Home Minister of Independent India, Patel welded the fractious assemblage of princely states into a united country using a subtle blend of tact and force. Junagadh and Hyderabad are good examples of Patel's strategic thinking. The only state/riyasat that was out of Patel's purview was Kashmir which was handled by Nehru directly and it continues to fester till this day. Patle wrote a letter to Nehru about the designs of China and this too Nehru ignored. Further, Nehru the patrician educated in the White Man's land treated Patel with open hostility and took delight in publically humiliating the great statesman. This factor contributed to the early death of Patel in 1950 and Nehru went on to live for 14 long years after the exit of India's saviour. Given this History, there is need to rehabilitate the Memory of this great Statesman. Nehru awraded himself the highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna and many in India seek to have that honour revoked. Sardar was honoured on in 1991 during a brief respite from the pestilence called dynastic rule.

Netaji Subash Chandra Bose remains an enigmatic personality in Indian History. He created the Indian National Army out of the prisoners of war captured by the Japanese in Singapore and turned them into a major force to liberate India. There is no doubt, as Clement Atlee said that it was the Indian National Army that finally convinced the British to leave India after the War. And again Netaji was forgotten. In fact Nehru even conspired with the Soviets to have Netaji declared a "war criminal". The alacrity with which Nehru declared that Netaji had died in the plane crash in August 1945 shows that Nehru was not interested in Netaji returning back to India. The return of Netaji would have meant the end of Nehru's dream of founding a Dynasty and keeping the Office of Prime Minister within his family. Modi rightly acknowledged Netaji's contribution by raising the National Flag on the ramparts of the Red Fort. Finally the fact that Netaji established the First Government of a  Free Independent and United India has been recognized.

Thus there is a great deal of scope for a revision of the dominant hegemonic discourse on modern Indian History. The congress centric narrative rests on distortions evasions and hagiography. It is time to change that and Narendar Modi has begun the task.

THE BJP'S ELECTION MACHINE: IS IT REALLY FORMIDABLE

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

How the BJP Wins: Inside India's Greatest Election Machine
Prashant Jha
New Delhi: Juggernaut, 2018

How the BJP Wins

The BJP sweep in the 2014 General Elections was not the outcome of a Modi Wave propelled by the unraveling of the Congress due to its involvement in monumental corruption. The BJP had three factors going for it: First, an Electoral and Political machine which is unparalleled in Indian Electoral politics due to its depth and range. Second, the Party used all the tools of modern technology to reach out to its support base and deliver the message right down to the level of individual household. Last but not least the image of Narendar Modi as a proven and able administrator. Indian journalists are prone to attribute success or failure to individuals and thereby evade more substantial question. As the run up to the 2019 Election start, the question on everyone's mind is: Will the BJP repeat the performance of 2014 or will there be a change in Government. I hazard to predict that the BJP and the NDA will emerge victorious as the Indian electorate is now quite mature and is not easily swayed by identity considerations based on Religion, Caste and Language. These do play a role but performance is also taken into consideration.

The book under review is an anecdotal account of the 2014 General Elections and the 2017 Mid Term polls in certain North Indian States, particularly Uttar Pradesh. The author, Prashant Jha has traveled extensively and has interacted with a large number of Karyakartas and he has written this book using a racy style eschewing political jargon and useless controversies. One issue needs to be cleared straightaway. The BJP is a broad based political party which has a long and honorable tradition of holding elections for its leadership. It is certainly not a fascist dictatorship that its opponents portray it to be. There is an institutionalized process of consultation within the Party and decisions are not taken in secretive conclaves or factional meeting as in the Congress party. The key to the political success of the BJP lies in this singular fact. The BJP is fundamentally democratic and while factions and caste alignments are ever present, the political line taken by the Party is predicated on a wide range of consultation within the Party fora. The author has pointed out that the karyakartas of the Party enjoy the advantage of easy access to the top leadership and also help in crafting a durable social base for the political success of the Party.

The main strategy deployed by the BJP is the sanghatan, the organizational link between the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh and the BJP.  The RSS provides the backbone for the electoral success of the party because of its deep and enduring relationship with the people at large by running schools and other welfare activities/ The involvement of the RSS in the work of the BJP at the basic constituency level ensures that the Election Campaign is monitored at all times and it also heps to translate support into votes. It would be accurate to say that no other political party has the advantage of having a large number of volunteers who work selflessly for a cause. One of the main reason for the constant drum beat of propaganda against the RSS is the real fear among the mainstream political parties that they lack "boots on the ground" who can undertake the onerous task of doing the hard work of getting the message across and getting out the vote on the day of the election.

The author also demolished the myth that the BJP is only an urban upper caste party. Ever since Rajni Kothari came out with his book Caste in Indian Politics more than half a century ago, journalists and Political Scientists have not gone beyond caste to understand the dynamics of Indian Elections. The recent publication Election Atlas of India gives us a wealth of GIS sensitive data which enables us to go well beyond the primitive caste paradigm put forth by Rajni Kothari.  The Booth Level Committees ensure the participation of all castes in the politics of the BJP and the fact that more than 45% of the dalit votes and OBC votes fell to the BJP in the last General Election is proof of its success in crafting a durable electoral base.

The book under review is an interesting read.

The Idol Thief The True Story of the Looting of India's Temples

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

The Idol Thief: The True Story of the Looting of India's Temples
S Vijay Kumar
New Delhi: Juggernaut, 2018.

The Idol Thief

The book The Idol Thief is an account of the nefarious, though highly successful crime spree of Subash Kapoor, a New York based art dealer who was responsible for looting and smuggling out of India more than 200 metal and stone sculptures to USA, France UK and other countries. There was a time when the offices of the white world was not complete without a Chola Nataraja standing incongruously in the meeting rooms and board rooms. Display of looted art from the non white world was seen as a mark of Education and refined taste and American multi millionaires like Rockefeller and others paid huge sums of money for the acquisition of plundered Indian art. And in India, there was hardly any awareness or even recognition that large scale smuggling of Indian antiquities was the only growth industry that the country could boast of. The Archaeological Survey of India which is the Government agency mandated to protect, preserve and conserve the cultural heritage of India was often complicit is proving the documents that facilitated such illegal transfer of cultural property. As the legal custodian of Indian antiquities, ASI often certified genuine Chola bronzes as modern imitations and after the antiquities reached the destination, usually a rich white nation, there were experts who re validated the art genuine and Auction Houses like Southey's were in the game of selling such stolen antiques by providing documents of provenance and ownership by which the law could be subverted. This game has been going on for a long time and only after the election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has the Government of India tightened its mechanism and has succeeded in repatriating no less than 30 pieces of stolen art.

Vijay Kumar is an executive in a shipping company based in Singapore and has written a well researched book on the art smuggling network of Kapoor who is now in jail in India.  The modus operandi of this art smuggler was very simple. He identified ruined Chola temples using S R Balasubramanium's excellent catalogue of Chola temples published in 3 volumes--Early, Middle and Late Chola Temples. Once identified, a set of men were deployed to break into the temple steal the metal utsava murthis stored in the store room and they were sent in containers to Hong Kong or Singapore for onward transport to USA. It is extremely fortunate that an immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official who is called Indy to safeguard his identity came on to the seen and he meticulously followed up every clue. It must be said that USA is extremely diligent in tracking down stolen art and if the case of Roxanne Brown is anything to go by, pursues its quarry even to the point of death.

Subash Kapoor lived well and accumulated a large army of angry women who were waiting for an opportunity to turn him in. And when the suspicion that he was involved in the robbery and illegal export of the Nataraja idols from Vriddhachalam hit the headlines one of his jilted lovers alerted the Indian Government and an Iterpol red corner alert was issued and Kapoor was apprehended.

This is a well written and interesting book.

Muthuvel Karunanidhi and his Politics of Hate Identity and Corruption

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

Muthuvel Karunanidhi (1924-2018) was a politician par excellence. A gifted orator in what is called medai Tamil (Platform Tamil) he was elected to the State Assembly 13 times and has the record of not being defeated in a single election. He became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu after the death of C N Annadurai who led the Dravida Munetra Kazhagam to a resounding victory in 1967 after defeating the Congress. In fact even the stalwart Kamaraj faced the humiliation of defeat and Tamil Nadu has remained thankfully Congress Mukth since.  Karunanidhi out maneuvered the chosen successor of Annadurai, Nedunzhelian who was the Finance Minister and the de facto Number 2 in the Cabinet. Karunanidhi was the Public Works Department Minister and was in the fourth position. Deft political moves, timely alliances and a relentless drive for power made Karunanidhi successful in the race. Having acquired the post, Karunanidhi went on to be the Chief Minister for 3 full terms. He was also dismissed, once by Indira Gandhi and again once by the interim Prime Minister, Chandrasekar. Karunanidhi had two very important qualities which saw him through. First, he was not encumbered with moral scruples of any sort. Second, he was an indefatigable worker capable of long hours of arduous work and had a fantastic memory for texts, faces and names. It is said that he remembered the names of all the prominent leaders of the party from across the state.

Karunanidhi was the product of the Non Brahmin Movement which saw the coalition of all intermediate landed castes and kin groups and communities uniting against a minuscule minority, the brahmins. Accusing the brahmins of being Aryan, an absurd and  an absolutely disingenuous assertion, the Justice Party and later the Dravida Kagzhagam launched a vicious campaign of terror against the Brahmins. This was also the time when Fascism was ruling Europe and many of the techniques used by the anti brahmmin Movement were directly copied from the play book of the Nazis. Brahmin women were harassed on the roads when they went around their daily work. Brahmin priests who wore the tuft were forcibly deprived of their tufts and men who were suspected of wearing the janevu (sacred thread) were forcibly made to remove it. Such atrocities had a permanent impact on the brahmin psyche and I dare say it has not healed until this day. Upon, the death of Karunanidhi some commentators asked why there is no visible sense of loss felt among the brhmains. A simple answer to that question is that Israel will not mourn for Hitler. A racist attack against a small insignificant minority in the name of a glorious imagine civilization of the dravidian people was the hallmark of Karunanidhi and his mentor. After the DMK came to power discrimination against Brahmins became institutionalized and public employment became impossible and many families, including mine, just left Tamil Nadu. The Indian liberal who is quick to point out instances of discrimination, is silent when it comes to the systematic exclusion of brahmins from the public sphere in Tamil Nadu. It will be accurate to say that there has been no brahmin MP from Tamil Nadu for the past 50 years except Venkataraman. No brahmin Minister of Vice Chancellor for the past 60 years. Such systematic persecution is a crime against humanity.

Caste politics was buttressed by the meanest kind of rent seeking. Government contracts were given only to persons who would plough back the proceeds to the Party and the first family. Right from the start, the DMK has practiced corruption as an attribute of statecraft. The TNPSC became for all intents and purposes a collection house for the DMK. A fixed sum of money was collected from the aspirants for government posts. A Class I Officers post carried a premium of around 50 lakhs and a constable carried a price tag of around 3 to 5 lakhs. Medical Education and Technological became increasingly privatized. The anti NEET agitation is only a reflection of the staranglehold acquired by politicians on professional education.

Karunanidhi led a very colourful personal life and that does not concern me. As our Lord and Saviour has said: Judge Not, Lest ye be judged. However, the fact that his two sons are openly contesting each other for both the Party and the Moohla that goes with it shows that private decisions can have public consequences. The manner in which his third son, M K Stalin alias Ayyadurai choreographed the public spectacle of Karunanidhi's funeral by completely air brushing his elder brother Alagirio from all public appearances shows that funerals in Dravidianist Tamil Nadu are a political theatre. Stalin received the Prime Minister and was shown in public as the Chief Mourner, accompanying his fathers body to the burial site and this has consolidated the public sympathy in favour of Stalin. I do not know if Alagiri will be able to recover.

Corruption Crime and Communal incitement were not the only arrows in the quiver of Karunanidhi. He flirted with the LTTE and when he was in power in the early 1990s the LTTE had acquired a free run over Tamil Nadu. The Kodambakkam Massacre in Zakharia Garden is proof of the absolute breakdown of law and order in the tenure of Karunanidhi. The assasins were allowed free passage to Vedaranyam from where a waiting dingy took them to Sri Lanka. And to prevent him from talking, the DGP, Durai was silenced.

The end of Karunanidhi brings to a close a dangerous and socially repugnant chapter in the history of India. Identity politics in the name of Race, Language, Caste, Creed were all weapons used for political patronage and power. I do not think Alagiri or Stalin possess the same level of chutzpah.

A Vice Chancellor Remembers: J A K Tareen:Man Mission and Autobiography

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

Prof Tareen's Autobiography

Professor J A K Tareen is a remarkable man: a great educator, a gifted scientist and a committed builder of Institutions. I have had the honour of serving with him and I can say that he has risen to eminence in his chosen field by dint of determination, hard work and his ability to lead and persevere. In Kashmir University where he served as Vice Chancellor for a full term of three years, he braved the threat of militants and others and by the time he left a non functioning University was transformed into one with "A" Grade accreditation by NAAC.  That in itself is no mean achievement. In Pondicherry University, he is still remembered as a visionary Vice Chancellor whose commitment to the institution is visible in the form of the Silver Jubilee Campus which he envisaged and developed. During his stewardship of the University, the NAAC accorded it the "A" Grade. Institution building, Infrastructure development, building up student enrollment are all the main policy directions that Prof Tareen is known for. Apart from his qualities as a gifted and dynamic administrator he is a warm hearted person and I can say that during his reign in Pondicherry University, and it was a reign in the true sense of the word, he knew each and every employee from a gardening staff to the senior teachers, HoDs and Deans by name. Hard work and a driving energy was behind his success. I enjoyed reading the book and true to his generous nature, he has complimented my contribution to the University during his tenure. Now I move on to his life.

Professor Tareen calls himself a "barefoot" boy. A reference to the fact that he was brought up by his Mother and other well wishers. There are frequent references to the extended network of relatives who flit in and out of Tareen's life. He studies in Mysore University and in the 1960s he, and it is a remarkable admission on the part of Professor J A K Tareen that his entry into the world of High Academia was facilitated by the role played by the non brahmin leader, Professor Naidu who was an "acclaimed non brahmin" leader. A larger question remains to be answered. Does a talented dedicated and undoubtedly motivated scientist like Prof Tareen require the patronage of a non brahmin leader. Similarly he says that his promotion to the rank of a full Professor was cleared by a dalit Vice Chancellor. Unfortunately identity politics has become part of the very fabric of Indian political and institutional life and Tareen quite clearly recognizes that.

In Pondicherry University, Professor Tareen transformed a defeated and demoralized University into a first rate one and it got the "A" grade in the accreditation. One controversy erupted after he left and was probably instigated by a disgruntled member who fancied that such targeting of Tareen would get him kudos from the current dispensation. He was accused of Islamization of the university. The ministry wanted a factual report and I was the Chairman of the Committee along with 2 other members. We studies the issue and presented a Report and there was no further problem after that. Sab ke saat sab ka Vikas is not a mere slogan and is a reality. While it is fashionable to blame the Central Giovernment, I must say that people are often victims of false perception purveyed by the media. We showed quite clearly on the basis of facts and figures that there was no disproportionate appointment of poersons belonging to the identity group of Tareen. And we also proved that no place had been set aside for collective rituals of identity assertion as alleged in the complaint.

One issue rankles Professor Tareen. He says I think with some regret that he is not a member of any of the # Scientific bodies of India, INSA and the other two. One of Tareen's predecessor was a member of all 3 and I can say with certainty that he was a thoroughbred criminal and Tareen spent much of his time cleaning up after that terrible man left the University. I am happy that Professor Tareen is not in the company of contemptible rascals like the one I alluding to.

The book is an interesting read and anyone interested in the challenges faced by higher education in India must read it. I for one for tonnes of respect for Tareen and enjoyed his book. As he enters the twilight of his years I wish him Health and Fortune.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi defeats the vote of No Confidence: Some Implications for 2019

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

 There was never a moment of doubt that the Central Government headed by Narendra Modi would defeat the No Confidence Motion put forward by the Telugu Desam Party and supported by the Indian National Congress. Sonia Gandhis unexpected announcement that she had the numbers brought back memories of 1999 when she made a similar claim and the Prime Minister drew pointed attention to that. Was there a need to introduce a Vote of No Confidence? The Economy is chugging along at a steady clip of around 7.5 to 8%. Unemployment though high there has been a steady growth in the job market. Industrial production is rising and Foreign Direct Investment is also heading northwards. So all in all there is no great urgency to push forward an agenda of "regime change". However, with the Indian National Congress and other dynasty obsessed political factions logic and national interest take a second place to impulsive politically short sighted and, as it is clear from this particular instance, a suicidal race to political disaster, perhaps even extinction. Vote of No Confidence in a Parliamentary Democracy is a serious business and is a weapon that must be deployed only in the gravest of situations.

Rahul Gandhi's speech for nearly an hour was full of sound and fury and it signified nothing except that he exposed his political immaturity before the entire Nation. He made a serious allegation of political corruption against Narendra Modi with regard to the Rafael deal which was refuted by the French Government spokesman  even as the debate raged in the House. Rahul Gandhi alleged that the Government is shying away from disclosing the price of the aircraft as it wants to hide the price escalation. The fact is that the UPA Government itself has signed a no disclosure Agreement and so the Defense Minister was able to prove the falsity of Rahul Gandhis attack.He further made allegations raising questions over the demonetization drive and the surgical strike against terrorist training camps located across the Line of Control in Pakistan held part of Kashmir. Rahul Gandhi used a particularly offensive term. "Jumla".

In the vernacular language the word Jumla is used as sarcastic way of trivializing an accomplishment done with great difficulty and earnestness. Jumla is always associated with a task seriously performed and earnestly executed. Use of the word to denote the heroic efforts of the Indian Army to combat terrorism will not go well with the electorate. After his rambling dis oriented speech, Rahul walked over to the Prime Minister's seat and hugged him, a clear breach of Parliamentary protocol. And after resuming his seat Rahul Gandhi started winking at the Prime Minister another major violation of protocol and parliamentary decorum. The whole nation watched aghast at this awful display of dynastic arrogance and a concerted calculated effort to humiliate the Prime Minister on the floor of the House. In fact, the behavior of Rahul Gandhi will cost the Congress party and its allies votes in the 2019 General Elections.

After the vapid performance of Rahul Gandhi the Prime Minister spoke and he completely ripped apart the false charges made by the insensitive and immature Rahul Gandhi. As usual, the Prime Minister lit into the dynastic scion by flagging the obvious fact that he is holding his office by virtue of his service to the people and not by birth. Calling himself a Kaamdaar not a Naamdaar, Modi mocked the Ganddhis by saying that he dare not see the Gandhis in the eye and he drew attention to the numerous instances when the Congress Party humiliated the Prime Ministers by offering support and then withdrawing it at the last moment: Charan Singh, Deve Gowda and I K Gujral were all victims of the power lust of the Congress party. The stellar performance of the Prime Minster resulted in the No Confidence vote being rejected.

The implications of the Lok Sabha vote need to be examined. 325 votes were cast in favor of the NDA Government and this is 11 vote more than the combined strength of the NDA in the Lok Sabha. I think that the tempo will now pick up for the next elections. Having won the vote of confidence, Narendra Modi may go in for an early elections and I predict that the BJP will get around 305 seats on its own.

Donald Trump and Vladmir Putin Summit at Helsinki, Finland

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


An extraordinary event happened in Helsinki two days back and the American Media seems to have been caught completely off guard.  The world's two most powerful men met in the Finnish capital Helsinki in order to iron out the differences between them, From Newspaper reports it appears that all the hot spots around the world, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Ukraine were all discussed and Isreal and its security was also discussed. No official communique was issued at the end of the talks so we have to depend only on information from the two sides. The American press and its Academic leaders even went to the extent of terming this meeting and the conclusions that followed as "treason". The establishment Republicans like Jon Mccain and Democrats were quick to denounce the Press Meet that followed as :disgraceful" "cowardly" and Hussein Obama was full of invective against the attempt to bring Russia back into the world system.

The fact is that the Intelligence Community--CIA, NSA --have all been extremely hostile to Donal Trump and have at times even tried to undermine him and his foreign policy. Such acts certainly lead to the suspicion that the Deep State in the US is operating through the Intelligence Media nexus. Trump has sought to lessen the tensions between USA and Russia and there is nothing wrong in this objective. Ukraine where a fascist regime has been propped up by the West is the cause for all the strain. And Crimea was integrated into the Russia state after following internationally accepted norms of self determination. The American Media and its liberal establishment cannot decide the future of world relations and Trump was certainly within his right to set the foreign policy agenda as he is the constitutionally mandated authority, Where does the charge of treason come? And intelligence agencies in no Democracy are allowed to set foreign policy goals. American Media trotted out the so called betrayal of the Intelligence Community. Since when did the Intelligence Agencies get the authority to conduct foreign policy.

The American Intelligence Agencies did not cover themselves with glory as they were responsible for cooking up a false case against Iraq on the existence of Weapons of Mass Destruction and the whole of the Middle East is in a state of crisis following the collapse of the Baath regime in Iraq. I would even say that by concocting a false narrative the American agencies have shown that they are complicit with the Deep State. Second, the 9/11 attacks in September 2001 were carried out by Sunni extremists trained and financed by Saudi Arabia. USA has now sold 100 billion dollars worth of military equipment to the Saudis which is being used to kill people in Yemen. Trump is trying to make peace and the Deep State in the uSA is trying to thwart that effort.

In his Inauguration Address Trump spoke of the American Carnage. The Deep State and its minions were deeply offended by the speech for this explicit reference.  When Hussein Obama was the President the drone warfare and bombings were at the rate of one bomb every four minutes. And Trump for all his less than sensible public statments has not repeated the American Carnage though he has not been able to stop it fully.

I think there is no reason to suggest Trumps desire for some kind of rapprochement with Russia as treason. The American media is doing great disservice to its own people by misinforming them about what is happening on the world stage. THe President's remarks about the hacking of the elections came as a response to an impertinent question from an American reporter about the Hacking of the elctions. Is American democracy so fragile that it can be hijacked by 12 hackers sitting in Russia. Trup rightly said that the FBI has not been able to recover the DNC servers or the 33,000 emails which were deleted from Hilary Clinton's account. Where is the treason in placing facts before the public. The US media has become so partisan that it does not want to face facts.

Recent Political Controversies in India

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

Indian political controversies have a flavour of its own. Issues flare up like shooting stars across the evening sky and burn up as attention is focused on them. However,some serious issues have been flagged in the recent past.

First, the involvement of the Missionaries of Charity in child trafficking has led to a huge public outcry. More than 450 babies, born perhaps to unwed mothers in the Jharkand state have gone missing. It is suggested that several of them were "sold" to couples but the Missionaries of Charity has no explanation to offer about the missing children. Due to its iconic status in India public outrage has been muted. What the sister of the Missionaries of Charity did, and in particular, Sister Concelia, is beyond doubt reprehensible. Added to this is the scandal that has now enveloped the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Kerala. A bishop has been accused of raping, yes, a nun and the entire hierarchy seems to have comedown in defense of the priest. In addition, there are crimes of passion including murder that several priests belonging to the Roman Catholic order face. A Jesuit priest allegedly killed another priest over a dispute.

Sashi Tharoor who is now on bail for the murder of his third wife Sunanda Pushkar  made a statement that India is becoming a "Hindu Pakistan". At the face of it, this statement is absurd but the intent behind the statement is clear:the dynastic fascists are seeking to polarize the electorate by consolidating Moslem vote bank while simultaneously making inroads in the BJP support base by encouraging caste based voting. This strategy is dangerous as it would either give the dynastic fascists a huge electoral victory or push the NDA to an unassailable  victory. Such statements have been made by Congress leaders in the past. During the time of Hafiz Syed inspired attack on Mumbai in 2008, the Congress leaders started a campaign that it was a "saffron terror" attack.In other words they tried to deflect the responsibility to the BJP and its allies. This campaign was further bolstered by the deliberate misrepresentation of the Israt Jehan Encounter as a planned murder done at the behest of the then Chief Minister of Gujarat. The fact that was suppressed is that the LeT terrorist David Colemen Headley had clearly indicated to his interlocutors that Israt Jehan was trained as a suicide bomber who had been tasked take out the Chief Minister of Gujarat then. Using identity politics and creating a false narrative around Moslem fears led to the Partition of the country and the dynastic fascists still seem to be innocent of its implications.

Mohammad Ansari, the Vice President nominee of the Congress and its allies has made a statement in which he supported the "triple talaq" and Halala rape indulged by sections of the Moslem society residing in India. The later refers to the practice of women spending a night in the company of a moulvi before she rejoins her husband after a triple talaq. The BJP led Government wants to bring in legislation that would outlaw such practices and Ansari instead of supporting these progressive policies decided to oppose them. Moslem identity politics generally takes the form and shape of a consolidated Moslem population vs an Indian Polulation. In fact, educated Moslems have long given up these practices and even in Muslim counties like Pakistan, such customs have long disappeared. The Muslim community in India is kept in a dark ghetto by its political backers who want only its vote in order to defeat the BJP. Playing on the fears, usually misplaced fears and pandering to the most reactionary and fundamentalist opinion has become the mainstay of Congress electoral strategy.

Will such identity based polarization work.

The Vice President, Hon'ble Venkaiah Naidu in Pondicherry University

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


The Vice President of India, Hon ble Shri Venkaiah Naidu who is also the Chancellor of Pondicherry University visited the University and it was a memorable occasion. The Vice President has earned a place in Indian public life which is unique. With his vast erudition and scintillating wit he kept the audience consisting of the Faculty and Students of the University spell bound for nearly an hour. An excellent orator with a penchant for alliterative expressions the Vice President drove home the message of hard work, honesty and dedicated service to the Motherland with passion as the mantra for success in life. His own life from Nellore exemplifies the path of democracy. It shows that India, in spite of its inherent weakness for dynastic fascism provides the space for grass root politicians like Shri Venkaiah Naidu to reach the second highest constitutional position in India. Humorously the Vice President stated that apart from hard work the factor that helped was his commitment to a single party.

Add captionShri Venkaiah Naidu in the Executive Council Hall

Before the programme began, the Vice Chancellor of the University Professor Gurmeet Singh made a presentation the the Vice President who is also the Chancellor of the University about the progress made by the University. The brief but well prepared presentation highlighted all the important aspects of the University and it is hope that the University will be recognized as an Institution of Eminence. 

The Vice President addressed a packed JN Auditorium which was crammed with students. What was so striking about this eminent personality is his utter simplicity. He made everyone feel at home and he addressed the students in a manner which pleasant and admirable. He urged the students to work had and stressed the demographic dividend due to the fact that more the 50% of the population of India is less than 35 years of age. This young population has opportunities provided it had the skills. He drew attention to the various schemes of the BPJ Government which emphasizes Skill Development and he also mentioned the flagship initiative of Start Up India, Stand Up India. Shri Venkaiah Naidu stressed the importance of education in the Mother tongue.

The University which was the venue of the meeting with Hon ble Vice President of India Shri Venkaiah Naidu worked with clockwork precision. The arrangement were all made in a meticulous manner. The Vice President who has a good sense of humor was reminded  that July 1st was his birthday and he said that he had forgotten about it until the Prime Minister's tweet wishing him went viral. The horrible issue of "rapes and violence against women" was referred to by the Vice President and he drew pointed attention to the Nirbhaya Tragedy. He said that such crimes not only bring a bad name to India and is against the very ethos of Indian culture but was also against the tradition of India which always respected women; Durga for Defence, Lakshmi for finance and Saraswathi for education.

I was deeply impressed with the Vice President. He carried himself with poise and elan. There is a distinct radiance about him which attests to the fact that he lives the ideals that he stands for and advocates.

The Scrapping of the University Grants Commission: A Welcome Move

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


The NDA Government at the Center has taken a major decision: the scrapping of the University Grants" Commission. For over 60 years this large unwieldy body was running the Higher Education scene in India and the chaos in Indian  Universities is largely the consequence of the UGC pursing policies that ultimately proved self defeating. Set in 1956, the UGC was mandated to act as a funding agency for Indian Universities.Its original purpose was to ensure that Universities  received funds as per their allocated budget. At the time the UGC was established there were less than 50 Universities in India and the task of fund distribution was relatively simple. A fixed sum of money was apportioned to Universities and College and the bulk of the spending was on the six Central Universities which came directly under the Central Government. When Professor Nurul Hassan the Communist turned Congressman became the Minister for Education, the UGC began to acquire a stranglehold over the University and Higher Education Institutions all over India. By the simple expedient of tying financial assistance to policy initiative, the UGC became over the decades the sole arbiter of Indian education. It conducted the National Eligibility Test (NET), it granted Major and MInor Research Projects, it prescribed the Curriculum to Indian Universities in the form of its Model Curriculum, it set personnel policies for those employed in Universities and Colleges by prescribing norms and criteria for promotion. It was the UGC which came up with the horrendous system of API on the basis of the recommendation of the S P Tyagarajan Committee. In the name of encouraging Reseach, the UGC decided to introduce the Academic Performance Indicators (API) which in turn was pegged tom promotions. Teachers were made to perform like circus animals in order to acquire the required score. In the process, teaching suffered and research which was done was, at best of indifferent quality.

The proliferation of the ON line Journals which were on the approved list of the UGC spawned an industry of predatory journals and thanks to the wrong policies of the UGC India has the dubious distinction of having the highest number of predatory journals in the world.

All this will change under the new legislation which separates the role of funding and finance from that of the regulator. The new body which will be formed will look after the regulatory aspects of Higher Education and funding will be directly monitored by the MHRD. This will make the policy implementation simpler and there will be less scope for corruption. One of the lesser known aspects of Indian higher education is that it is one of the most corrupt in the world. Major Reseach Projects submitted for projects that run into crores are little more than recycled M Phil and Ph D theses. Same project is resubmitted several times and funding is generated. O f course, now the Turn-it In anti plagiarism test is being encouraged.

The UGC was averse to the participation of foreign universities in the higher education market. This will also change. Another important change is the growing importance that is being given to NIRF ranking. The NIRF ranking is now essential for funding and NAAC accreditation. These changes have improved the quality of Indian education. Though we have long ways to go.

Targeted Killings: Rise and Kill First by Ronen Bergman

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

Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assasinations
Ronen Bergman
New York: Random House 2018

Israel was born of a horrendous historical and political reality that of the Holocaust in which around 7 million Jews were killed in gas chambers spread across Germany and Eastern Europe. This singular event has cast a long, and some might even say a deadly shadow, on Israel as a Sate and Society. The words "Never Again" emblaozoned on the Holocaust Memorial in Tel Aviv is more than a mere rhetorical declaration of intent: it is also a guide to the very conduct of State Policy. The Holocaust was both a moral and political disaster: Moral because it marked an end to the very notion of a civilized human existence and the world woke up to the horror of Extermination and Genocide as state policies and a Political disater because all the Allied Powers, though aware of the infernal extermination camps took no effort either to liberate the imprisoned people or to create awareness among the population through propaganda about the horrors of genocide. Only the Soviet Union made the Liberation of the Jews a WarAim and succeeded.

The book under review must be read against the backdrop of what we have stated above. The decades immediately following World War I and the Balfour Declaration witnessed the migration of Jews from Europe to Palestine. The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire created the conditions for the rise of Israel and the Arabs who faught for the Allies soon found that their utility as an ally lay in the huge deposits of petroleum found in Arabia. The Allies were now very keen on keeping the Arab sates within their orbit of influence as the major source of Oil lay in Arabia. Under these circumstances Israel could neither depend on its"natural" allies the Western Powers nor was it powerful enough to ward off the ever spiraling danger to its very existence. The Arabs were dispalced from their lands as the Jews migrated to Israel and the fellow Arab nations instead of helping the Arabs resettle in Arab lands promptly  stuck the fleeing Arabs in specially created camps and thereby created the Palestenian problem. There was no Palestineian problem before the Arabs attacked Israel in 1948 and instead of crushing the nascent state of Israel in the cradle as they hoped only succeeded in strengthening the verve and resolve of Israel.

Shin Bet and MOSSAD were two very powerful organizations that emerged from the ashes of the Holocaust. The early recruits into these highly specialised Intelligence Units came from familes that had lost family members in the Holocaust. A high sense of motivation and skill were needed to join these units. Right from the very beginning Israel had made it a state policy to "Identify, Isolate and Eliminate" enemies of the State. Arab states like Egypt were keen to employ German scientists to help launch the Rocket programme. Of course, Israel would have none of that and the Germans were forced to withdraw. Intimidation through letter bombs and targeted assasinations have both been deployed by Israel security agencies against those working against Israel or have shed Jewish or Israeli blood. Thus all those who took part in the infamous 1972 Massacre of Israeli atheletes at Munich, Germany, were hunted down and the last one killed just 5 years back.

It must be noted that the special operations are carried out only on the written directives of the Prime Minister. The CIA has rouge elements, guns on hire, who operate outside the limits of the law. The Israeli agencies have shown restraint and there have been situations when assasinations have been called off due to the presence of civilians in the area. There are some who say that targeted killing is illegal. To them, I say that  the Law and Constitution acts as restrins only when people accept the limits set ny the Law of the Land and the Constitution. If we have terrorists who are not bound to the law and do not respect the Constitution and indeed, boast of overthrowing it, the State is well within iy=ts rights to seek challenge and destroy such elements.

Thias is a very interesting book and must be read by all those interested in Isreal, Secret Espionage Agencies and are looking for ways to destroy terrorism. Israel has shown that its policy is effective.

Rahul Gandhi and the Politics of Hate and Sarcasm

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

One of the major drawbacks of dynastic politics is that individuals born to political and social privilege start believing in their entitlement to high office. In a Democratic polity, dynastic succession runs contrary to the very idea of an inclusive society as high office is often reserved for those born within a close circle. In the case of the Congress Party, the choice of succession is restricted to the members of the Nehru Gandhi family and the entire Party is reduced to being a mere props to the chosen Crown Prince. Rahul Gandhi who has succeeded his Italian born mother, Sonia, to the President of the Congress Party is making an utter fool of himself by his thoughtless patronizing and at time downright insulting public utterances.

Rahul Gandhi,s public display of ignorance and naivety is reflected in his remark that he has a machine capable of making potatoes into Gold. He is known to have spoken of the escape velocity of Jupiter and he even said quite seriously that his family was responsible for the Freedom of India. His thoughtless and arrogant remarks about the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (the RSS) has got him into trouble with the courts and a case of criminal defamation is currently under way. Similarly, thanks to the efforts of Dr Subramaniam Swamy, Rahul and Sonia are both facing criminal prosecution for cheating in the National Herald Case. In each of the cases mentioned above, Rahul got into trouble due to his lack of understanding and his inability to discern the damage his public statements will cause. More recently he declared that he is fit to be the Prime Minister of India even though his Party has only 44 seats in Parliament.

The remerks made by Rahul in Mubai after paying a visit to the ailing former Prime Minister of India, Atal Behari Vajpayee was both crass and immature. Rahul Gandhi, against the advice of the Medical team looking after Ataji at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, gatecrashed into the room of Atalji and later bragged about being the first to visit Atalji and then went on to pointedly say that the present Prime Minister had not gone to the Hospital thus showing lack of respect. Nothing could be further from the truth. None of the senior leaders went to the Hospital as the great Atalji was critical and nobody in his right mind disturbs a critically ill individual and then milks that for political gain. The entire country condemned the crass and senseless remarks of Rahul, the Clown Prince of Indian politics as he is derisively  called. There are also rumours swirling that he was caught in New York Airport with drugs and cash ans it was Atal Behari Vajpayee as Prime Minister who got the immature Rahul Gandhi out of trouble. Be that as it may, Rahul showed his lack of intellect and character by making that crass remark.

Will Rahul Gandhi emerge as a serious contender for political office. It is too early to say. However,Indian electorate is rather short sighted and is capable of being swayed by identity considerations.

Roy Moxham's Great Hedge of India: A Review and a reflection on Historical Method

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

Marc Bloch the great French historian published a book that is unfortunately not widely known: French Rural History. In that book he argued that it is possible to look at the cadastral surveys produced during the era of the French Revolution in order to reconstruct the rural history of France. For eaxample why did Brittany and parts of France have an Open Field system and eclosed fields in other parts. Using the documents of a later age to reconstruct the social and economic landscape of an earlier epoch, the regressive method, has become a powerful tool of research. In the Graet Hedge of India, Roy Moxham does something similar. He has used the maps of the first half of the nineteenth century to trace the remanants of the Permit Line or the Custom Line thta separated the territories of the East India Company from those of the so called dependent states that had been brought under the overall suzerainty of the Company.
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The Great Hedge of India

A map showing the Custom Line

 The defeat  of the Maharatas in 1818 for all practical purposes left the East Indiat India Companyin a dominant position politically and militarily. From this singular historical fact stemmed a huge atrocity that even the genius, the political genius of Mohandas Gandhi barely grasped: the creation of a salt monopoly that was hugely profitable to the East India Company, but a terrible calamity visited upon the people of India. Maxham, unlike Indian historians, who write modern history with their eyes firmly fixed on the crumbs falling from the polical banquet, is unburdened by any expectation, except the thrill of historical discovery and analysis. From a stray, almost an aside in the Rambles and Recollections of Col. Sleeman, he stumbled upon the refence to the Custom Line or Parmat Lian as the "natives" termed it. Seeking to see if traces of this Custom Line still survived he sets off on a rather uninspiring journey across the badlands of Northern India: Chambal, Jhansi, Etawah, Erich. He even approached the Remote Sensing Agency of India for satellite imagery of the areas he is interested in but the price quoted, US $ 16,000 is way beyond his reach and so he perseveres on until he finally sees for himself a stretch of the anceint hedge near Jhansi.

Roy Moxham is extremely affectionate toward India and in a slightly partonizing tone even wrote his Theft of India as a reposte to the apologists of the Raj of whom we find an ever increasing number, especially after the disease of Postt Colonial Theory hit the Indian academia. He argues that the purpose of the Custom Line was to prevent the smuggling of salt from the Princely territories into the Company possessions. By a historical accident, the major salt producing areas of India, Bengal and Madras fell into the hands of the Company very early and these were the major salt producing territiries of India. Salt was extensively and freely traded all across the land until the East India Company established the Salt Monopoly and created an elaborate officiadom to control the manufacture and exort of salt. In order to prevent the Salt from British territoris from leaving without the collection of a steep tariff, the Custom Line was first established near Allahabad and Benares and soo stretched nealrly 1280 miles up to the North West Frontier Province. The Custom Line was a huge hedge with thory briar trees and thick shrub 20 feet high and 15 feet broad. In 1878 the Custom Line was abandoned after fiece criticism in the House of Commons.

I found the book interesting and will certainly reccomend it to those interested in historical sleuthing.

Killing Fields of Kerala: The lynching of Madhu

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

Add captiMadhu at the hands of his captors

Look at the expression on the man's face: a vacant look of terror. A few seconds after this picture was taken the man died and his only crime was that he was a tribal in a state ruled by the Communist Party of India, the Marxist faction. Madhu was a tribal youth from Attydapy, a palce made famous by the struggle of Janu whose fast highlighted the plight of tribals in Kerala. Since the CPM faction has come to power, killings have become an endemic party of Kerala politics. The CPM has been involved in systematically terrorising its opponents in Kannur and Malappuram districts.Estimates vary. However nearly 40 BJP and RSS workers have been hacked to death since the Marxist faction came to power.

 The Popular Front of India, a radical Muslim outfit has been give a free run and it is suspected that the Marxists have outsourced the elimination of their opponents to the PFI and even mainstream Indian politicians like Hamid Ansari, the former Vice President of India, patronise this outfit. Since prosecution is in the hands of the State Government, there is little fear that there will be justice. And since RSS and BJP cadre are being systematically targeted, it is possible for the Marxists to maintain deniability and claim that it is the usual Hindu/Muslim problem. However, the failure of the state to act and apprehend the criminals is sufficient proof that the CPM organization supports these extra judicial killings.

The rapid strides taken by the BJP is shoring up its support base is causing alarm bells to ring. The BJP even won a seat in the last Assembly election. There is a caste dimension to the violence as well. The backbone of the marxist faction which is entrenched in power is the Ezhava community, a backward caste that is now powerful. The Tiya, are contesting the hegemony of the Ezhavas and they have rallied around  the RSS and the BJP. The Muslims who form a sizable part of the electorate are feeling the heat of the changed political dimension and are resorting to unabashed violence. In fact the majority of the men involved in the lynching of poor tribal, Madu, are muslims. And there is apprehension that the state willgo soft on them for political reasons.

The lynching of Madhu, a poor starving tribal who stole 200 Rs worth of rice exposes the hypocrisy of the Indian mainstream media. The Liberals went ballistic over the killing of Gauri Lankesh and one or two from their fraternity. It now appears that all the killings were in the nature of private revenge and had nothing to do with the Central Government though there were loud protests over the killing of Kalburgi, Dhabolkar and Lankesh all of which took place in Congress ruled states. Now this crime committed by Muslims in a Communists ruled State is proving to be a real dilema. The liberals are brought up to believe that crime with a gree tinge is best swept under the carpet and this has happened.

ELECTION ATLAS OF INDIA: A REVIEW AND ANALYSIS

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

Election Atlas of India
Datanet India Publication

Election Atlas of India

India, by common consent, the world'sDemocracy has been condusting perodic Elections from 1952 and the General Elections of 2014 was momentous in that for the first time in 30 years a single National party emerged with a clear majority, albeit a majority of just 10 seats. Elections in India are extrmely complexin terms social, political and legal issues and can be a logistical nightmare in some instances. The use of the Electronic Voting Machine has revolutionized India elections and India can proudly claim that it conducts the fairest and the freest elections in the world. There are serious doubts over the democratic credentials of USA especially when it comes to voting rights for non white citizens. I do not think there is a comprehensive Atlas for US elections and the Book under review is a valuable resource for anyone interested in Election Studies. The organization of Big Data mined form a host of Election Commission Reports and the like is a huge challenge and the Editors have done a great job assembing the complex data in tabular form with accompanying maps.

An iteresting feaure of the Atlas is the use of GIS for generating maps of Indian parliamentary elections.I am sure that political parties like the BJP will find a wealth of information in this Atlas and if integrated with the Census Data and the National Sample Survey data, a political party can generate both the socia-economic profile of the Constitueny as well as its electoral history. Basic political data like total number of electorate and its division, the number of candidates in the constituency, the votes polled, the margin of vicctory, the number of polling station are all visually represnted in the Atlas. Interestingly, the distibution of political parties that came second in each parliamentary constituency across 16 General Elections is also given.Statistically significant data such as the margin of victory as conforming to or deviating from the national median is also given. Section II, entitled Election Timeline and General Info gives us a clear picture of certain sighnificant aspects of each parliamentary poll: the constituencies with the highest and the lowest turnout, the victory margin, the pecentage of votes that resulted in victory etc.

This book is a fantastic excersise in Big Data Anaysis and presnetation. I wish politics departments of Indian Universites teach their students how to use this wealth of information in their anaysis. One fact that emerges clearly, contrary to popular perception is that the BJP out performs all other National political parties in temrs of winning SC reserved seats and ST reserved seats.

Vairamuthu and his Tasteless Rehetoric against Andal: Dravidian Party Ideologues insult Sri Vaishnava Religion

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


http://creative.sulekha.com/vairamuthu-and-the-tastelss-rhetoric-of-the-dravidian-party-ideologues_633926_blog

Vairamuthu is said to be a "poet" and anyone familiar with the kind of poetry he pens will be aware that he is a past master in suggestive alliterations by which vulgarity masquerades as innocent observation. The more vulgar the better. His value in the wholesale market of politcs increases. In places like Singapore Vairamuthu's poetic excesses are banned. And now his latest outburst agasinst Andal of Srivilliputtur.

The fact is the the Dravidian movement and its ideologues have always had an ambivalent relationship with Sri Vaishana stream of Tamil philosophy. Indeed, the addiction ot the Classical Age notions pertaining to Tamil antiquity may also stem from the fact that the Pure Tamil Movement represented by the likes of Sundara Pillai and Purnalingam were either ignorart of the Vaishnava literature or were committed to Siva Siddantha that the Manipravala of Sri Vaishnavism was anathema to them. Either way, Siva Siddhanta excluded Vaishana literature and Philosophy from being considered as the part and parcel of the inclusive Tamil religious tradition. The Bahkti corpus includes several great pieces composed by Antal. In Nachiyar Tirumoli, Andal writes:

Dark clouds ready for the season of rain,

chant the name of the Lord of Venkatam, who is valliant in battle

Tell him, like the lovely leaves that fall in the season of rains.

I waste away through the long endless years

waiting for the day when He finally sends word.

This blending of Bhakti with the passion of the akam genre of poetry is the unique trait of both Andal and Karaikkal Ammaiyar. And Bhakti is not the erotic fantasy that the darkended dravidian mind makes it out to be. And calling Andal a "devadasi" is not just insulting a vibrant strand 0f Sri Vaishnava thought but a supreme act of ignorance and I am not surprised. 

Dravidian ideologues have consistently insulted Vaishana Religion and indeed the very marker of identity of the Sri Vaishnava, the tiru nammam, is often presented as a symbol of chicanery and fraud. It is time to condemn such intolerance and punish those who have the termity to insult the divine. Vairamuthu has done precicely that: he has insulted Vaishanva tradition deliberately and in a provocative manner and he must be punished. Will the fellow dare to speak of Jesus or Mohammad in this manner.

The perils of Identity Politics: The Koregoan Riots and the rewriting of History

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

The Koregoan Memorial

The tall Pillar illustrated above is an unlikely candidate for heroic adulation. However, the riots that have broken out in Maharashtra, in Koregoan in particular, have everything to do about the identiy marinated History that passes off as Historiography in post colonial India. It comes as no surprise to me that JNU is at the forefront of the recasting of the memories associated with the Koregoam Memorial. January 1, 2018 marked the 200 year of the defeat of the Peshwa at the hands of the East India Company and one can expect that the defaet of an Indian ruler will be seen as a tragic act in the long drama of India's decline into servitude. Not so. The defeat of the Maharattas is celebrated by those who make the annual visit to this Memorial which commenmorates the victory of the East India Company over the Mahratta Forces. Like the debate over the statues of dead Confederate soldiers in the American South, the Koregoan Memorial has been appropriated to serve a counter narrative. The contestation of memory engendered by Identity Politics is wholly inappropriate and makes a supreme mockery of the craft of writing History and Memoria.

The defeat of the Mahrattas in 1818 sealed the fate of India as the Nizam of Hyderabad had already joined hands with the Engliah and was brought into the frame work of the Subsidiary Alliance. The Mahratta Confederacy held out but it was weakened by the internal quarrels of the Sardars. The Scindias were the first to join hands with the East India Company and the Gaikwads and the Holkars followed suit. The Peshwa was left without a fighting force and there was hardly any revenue at his disposal. But he happened to be a Chitpavan Brahmin and therefore the defeat of the Peshwa become a victory against "oppressive caste system". The counter narrative that transforms the Peshwa into a symbol of caste oppression and therefore the defeat of the maharttas at the hands of the East India Company becomes a potent symbol of caste liberation. The Independent MLA from Gujarat, Jijnesh Melwani has endored precicely this counter narrative.

The reason for celebartion of Peshwa's defeat is not hard to find. 900 "Mhar" soldiers led by Col. Staunton defeated an army of nearly 20,000 Mahratta troops. The English Parliament was estatic and in the Parlimantary debates of 1818 the battle figured almost as prominently as the one that ended Napoleon's rule in Waterloo in 1815. The Koregoan Memorial was commissioned by the East India Company in the bright afteglow of victory. The participation of "mahar" soldiers in the Battle and the fact that it ended Mahratta Rule made the Koregoab Memorial a potent symbol of Identity Politics. Dr B R Ambedkar visited the Memorail on January 1, 1927 and declared,"We are here to remember that our Mahar forefathers faught bravely and brought down unjust Peshwa rule". It matters little that Peshwa rule by this time had becoem hollow and most of the Mharatta Confederacy was ruled by Maharatta Sardars who were either of Dhangar origin like the Holkars or belonged to lesser castes which are today listed as Scheduled Castes, the Shides, the Gaikwads, the Bonseles etc. I am bringing this point up only to underscore the point that power in the late Mahratta Empire had slipped from the hands of the Peshwas and was firmly in the hands of the Sardars and yet the Chitpavan Brahmins become a convenient whipping boy. This misue of History as a hand maiden of Identity Politics is what makes contemporary post colonial historiography both bad and dangerous.

What is the evidence for concluding that 900 mahars were responsible for the defeat of the Peshwa/Mahtratta Army. The Memorial erected by the East India Company gives us the names of the soldiers who perished in the battle and some of the names end in "nac" and it is therefore concluded that they belonged to an SC caste. Even in the case of the Madras Army the bulk of the recruits came from the so called "paraiah" caste.

The civil conflict that is raging in Mahrashtra is a direct outcome of the Identy Politics grounded in false History as I have shown.