Monday, May 17, 2010

Naxalite Outrage Again: Why Chidambaram's war against the tribals will fail

The war launched by UPA II against the tribal in the heartland of India, labelled Operation Green Hunt is showing all the signs of early senility, exactly like the mental and intellectual processes of our "secular" congress brand politicians. Even dothi clad Harvard educated politicos are not free from that malaise. It is necessary to remember that across the social spectrum the Indian political establishment has lost legitimacy. Winning elections with money power and muscle power the politicians lord over the nation like the palaiyakaras of olden times. Even Chidambaram should know that his right to occupy his office in North Block is not without a huge question mark. Did he or did he not win his Lok Sabha seat. There are different versions about his vote share.
The is caught between the Indian security establishment and the Naxalite and with a cranky man like G K Pillai as Home Secretary it is unlikely that the Government will seee any success. I have often remarked in my extensive blogs that sending troops by carriers like trucks and buses is just stupid as the naxalites have mastered the art of using IEDs. The Government should strike at the supply side of the chain and clamp down on the sale of dual use chemicals. Further corruption within the Establishment has resulted in a steady flow of both information and arms and ammunition to the "liberated Zones". I think that Dothi clad nincompoop called Chidambaram should read classics like Mao's works, Sun Szu's Art of War, Machiavelli's the Prince and Clausewitz's On War and he will realise that he just cannot win this war as he does not understand the dynamics of what is going on. I have said earlier that Arundatti Roys's piece in the Outlook should be carefully perused as it contains valuable insight on the tactics of the Naxalite. Instead of blaming the so called intellectuals, the Government of the day should realise that the Indian political establishment does not have the loyalty even of tits own members. I think the BJP keep out of this war by just not commenting one or the other. Every naxalite strike is a coffin to inter the existing political calculus.
In the latest strike the naxalite have exposed the fact that the Government is using civilians as human shields in its war against the tribal

Friday, May 14, 2010

Nitin Gadkar, Lalu Yadava and the World of Dogs

Nitin Gadkari, the President of the BJP has called the Yadava chieftains from the Cow Belt "DOGS". Now I respect animals and I am sure that this comaprison is very very offensive and I condemn Nitin Gadkari for making such an outrageous statement. I own a few street dogs and tto the best of my knowledge have never threatened to crush anyone under a roadroller. This being the case how can Lalu Prasad Yadave be compared to a "dog". The dogs of this planet can feel outraged at the very thought that a gentleman who has the "fodder scam" facing him should feel offended. I also like to point out that ane Mishra who was seeing one of the girls of that Yadava was found dead in a canal. Now dogs do not do such outrageous things and they must be treated with dignity.
The politicians of this country call India are corrupt and criminal and they think that they have the licence to kill, abuse, pillage, rape, murder and if they have the right "secular" credentials like the Yadava duo or that DP Yadava they escape all accountability for their crimes. Today these to Yadavas are caying foul. Has anyone forgotten what Mulayam Yadava tried to do to Mayawati a few years back or the horrible words uttered by Mrs Bahuguna against Mayawati a few month back. Indian politicians are a disgrace to India and everything decent in the world and therefore deserve no mercy.
The gang of corrupt criminals called politicians will thrive as long as people dop not relise that by voting such people they are in fact commiting a crime against themselves.
I am not saying that NITIN Gadkari has done the right thing but there is a limit to the patience of everyone. When George Fernades was Defence Minister the CongressParty used to hurl abuses in Parliament on the coffin matter. Hon'ble Narendar Modi is being humiliated day in and day out by the likes of pretty face Bhraka Dutt and her tribe. As for me I say that given a choice between dogs and cats and Indian politicians I prefer dogs, cats, monkey, snakes and sundry animals as they are any day more civilised than that khaini stined fodder thief.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with AmIt appears that educated people in India do not want to make the obvious link between political corruption and dynastic fascism which is rampant in India. The linguistic division of state has spawned a whole array of regional and sub regional dynasties vying for space in the over crowded menagerie of Indian politics. The Congress Party started the slide by promoting a political dynasty and all regional parties along with their national affiliates followed suit. Only the two communist parties and the BJP seem to be bucking the trend. It is easier and safer for corrupt politicians to park their ill-gotten wealth in Party coffers and since they want their families to access that wealth the logic demands that families will inherit the parties. When Annadurai the founder of the DMK died no one in the DMK would have thought of giving the reins of leadership to his son. Though the 2 Dravidian parties swear by the name of Annadurai both of then have betrayed the legacy of that leader. None more so than Karunanidhi mistakenly called "kal;ignar" a term that means artist, but I have still to discover what he is so good at that he deserves that title. Tamils have become so backward that they have started the biruda game like the kings of old.It is only a matter of time before A Raja the Telecom scamster is shown the door. The 75,000 crore scandal he presided over is directly linked to the DMK party funds.In almost all the recent by-elections the party has spent crores of money and it is quite obvious that some of the money has come from the Telecom scam. A Raja in fact violated the written directive from the Prime Minister's Office which instructed him to keep the "empowered group of ministers" in the loop. It shows that in this Age of coalition politics, the dictates of the PM can be ignored with impunity. It is also possible that the PM's directive was issued to provide a line of defence to the PM, just in case the scandal became too much of a stench. The Congress has perfected the art of political corruption and has trained its 'secular" allies very well in this art. Corruption and Dynastic Fascism are both the great gifts of the Congress to the country.The only way to rid the nation of corruption is to appoint an audit committee to look into the funding and accounts of all registered political bodies. This is well within the purview of the Election Commission. After all political parties are only unincorporated association in law and it is within the competence of the Election Commission to order an audit into the accounts of all parties. If Hawala money poisons the IPL chalice, why not the political parties. And parties that refuse to comply must be forbidden to compete in the ELECTIONS.This is a reform well worth attempting.
Posted by Bahu Virupaksha azon Associates

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Telecom Scandal, Dynastic Fascism, and Political Corruption

It appears that educated people in India do not want to make the obvious link between political corruption and dynastic fascism which is rampant in India. The linguistic division of state has spawned a whole array of regional and sub regional dynasties vying for space in the over crowded menagerie of Indian politics. The Congress Party started the slide by promoting a political dynasty and all regional parties along with their national affiliates followed suit. Only the two communist parties and the BJP seem to be bucking the trend. It is easier and safer for corrupt politicians to park their ill-gotten wealth in Party coffers and since they want their families to access that wealth the logic demands that families will inherit the parties. When Annadurai the founder of the DMK died no one in the DMK would have thought of giving the reins of leadership to his son. Though the 2 Dravidian parties swear by the name of Annadurai both of then have betrayed the legacy of that leader. None more so than Karunanidhi mistakenly called "kal;ignar" a term that means artist, but I have still to discover what he is so good at that he deserves that title. Tamils have become so backward that they have started the biruda game like the kings of old.
It is only a matter of time before A Raja the Telecom scamster is shown the door. The 75,000 crore scandal he presided over is directly linked to the DMK party funds.In almost all the recent by-elections the party has spent crores of money and it is quite obvious that some of the money has come from the Telecom scam. A Raja in fact violated the written directive from the Prime Minister's Office which instructed him to keep the "empowered group of ministers" in the loop. It shows that in this Age of coalition politics, the dictates of the PM can be ignored with impunity. It is also possible that the PM's directive was issued to provide a line of defence to the PM, just in case the scandal became too much of a stench. The Congress has perfected the art of political corruption and has trained its 'secular" allies very well in this art. Corruption and Dynastic Fascism are both the great gifts of the Congress to the country.
The only way to rid the nation of corruption is to appoint an audit committee to look into the funding and accounts of all registered political bodies. This is well within the purview of the Election Commission. After all political parties are only unincorporated association in law and it is within the competence of the Election Commission to order an audit into the accounts of all parties. If Hawala money poisons the IPL chalice, why not the political parties. And parties that refuse to comply must be forbidden to compete in the ELECTIONS.
This is a reform well worth attempting.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Unrestrained Killing in Iraq

The US war effort in Iraq is undermined by the very savagery of its sometimes unrestrained killing. Of course, in a war zone the forces are at liberty to shoot and shoot to kill if need be, but it appears that gratuitous acts of great violence are being carried out without any tactical advantage or objective.
On July 12, 2007 an employees of Reuters, Baghdad,Namir Noor-Eldeem who was all of 22 years old was killed by a deadly burst of 30 millimetre M230 chain guns mounted on AH-64D Apache helicopters which have become the backbone of the US military for decades now. Sometimes called the Black Hawk because of its predatory shilloutte this war machine is etched in American consciousness due to another unfortunate incident in Somalia several years back. Namir Noor and his colleague were killed on the spot even though both of them were neither terrorists nor were they armed. In fact both men took extreme precaution not to send wrong signals as the site of their killing has witnessed sectarian strife. What is shocking is that the US military did not even acknowledge that such an act had taken place and tried to cover up for the error in judgement. It is not any one's case that the pilots were seeking out innocent targets and were getting their kicks by killing innocents. We are saying that the US military in its field operations has given far too much leeway to its soldiers and all damage justified under the label "collateral damage".
This incident would have been forgotten but for a happenstance. The video footage of this particular attack was loaded on to a little known site called Wiki leaks. It is obvious that someone from within the US military establishment has had the courage to leak the footage either to embarrass the military or to assuage the conscience. Either way the damaging video soon became one of the most watched videos even on you-tube where it is presently hosted.
The video has to be watched for one to understand the absolute cold bloodiness of the soldiers in the helicopter. The gunmen in the helicopter open fire on the Small group of unarmed men and kill all of them. Not content at this massacre they wait for the relief van to pull up and in the video one hears a voice with a mid-western accent: Come on, let us shoot.
When the US military was done with its deed 8 men and children lay dead and not one was armed or even remotely associated with insurgency.
This is only to bring home the horror of what is unfolding in Iraq.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Tharoor, Tweets and Twats: A Long Day's Journey into Night

I remember Sashi Tharoor as a student in Delhi University sitting in the CH (Coffee House for the uninitiated) with Swapan Das Gupta and Chandan Mitra and a bevy of girls from Miranda House. I still remember Tharoor with long side burns a kurta and faded blue jeans with an air of total nonchalance about him. I went on to earn a Ph D in History from a good State University in the US and Sashi Tahroor went to Fletcher School of Diplomacy to earn his. The Ph D dissertation was published by Vikas under the title Reasons of State and till this day remains the only full length study of the process of Indian foreign policy decision making. I hold no brief for Congressmen and their brand of dynastic fascism and yet I will say that I find it impossible to believe that Sashi Tharoor has used his position to make money. We have the like of Laloo Prasad Yadava and Papu Yadava, crimianls to the core,being included in the India political spectrum and Tharoor certainly is not cut from the same cloth.
Tharoor broke a few rules of the political game. First, unlike N D Tiwari, Tharoor flaunted his penchant for pretty women. When that Bharka woman from NDTV was inteviewing Tharoor on NDTV a few days back, I thought that Dutt would just sidle up to Tahroor. Such is the force he exudes. We have chief minister of one southern state with more wives than he even cares to remember and his children from different women are fighting for his political legacy even as the old man like King Lear is still technically alive and kicking. No one says anything. The First Prime Minister, Jawarhar Lal Nehru accepted the Partition of India as suggested by Mountbatten because Lady Mountbatten was his lover and we keep that singular fact under the carpet. Tahroor openly associated with a PRETTY WOMAN AND THAT was his first major mistake. He took her to official parties and made it clear to all that she was his love interest. Indians being a hypocritical people do not appreciate an honest relationship. Had Taroor kept Sunanda Pushkar (the pun is unintended) no one would have objected. But he was honest and that was his undoing.
SaSHI Tharoor is a serial offender as far as women are concerned and that is a personality disorder not a crime. The Tiger Woods syndrome affects even successful writers. Tharoor is the author of an outstanding novel, The Great Indian Novel and is still regarded as an outstanding piece of post-colonial literature. His short stories collected in Five Dollar Smile and essays in Book less in Baghdad are well written.
The first rule of Indian politics is that keep your twats under wraps and do not flaunt them. Tharoor paid no heed to that. The second rule of Indian politics is bow and scrape and do not ask questions. Tharoor was tweeting away even on extremely sensitive issues. I have a blog in this site on his "cattle class" remark. I think that the Indian Media too does not know how to deal with a highly educated and accomplished man and was complicit in undermining Tharror.
The most important mistake that Tharoor made was to associate with low brow convicts like the IPL commissioner, Lalith Modi. This convicted drug dealer is not from the same class or status group of Tharoor and Sashi must not have been seen associating with such muck. And he will pay for that.

Sashi Tharoor fell for a woman who for all her looks and glamour did finally show some character. When the sweat equity of 70 crores became an issue she did surrender the equity hoping therby to pull her beau out of the crisis. Sunanda Pushkar husband Menon committed suicide in New Delhi two years back according to the latest Outlook and now see the mess Tharoor has landed in. The moral of the story: Keep your twats strictly out of public glare and scrutiny.

Friday, April 9, 2010

It was such a pleasure meeting this poet




Obviously I cannot name him But recently I got the opportunity of a lifetime to meet a poet lyricist and screen play writer as the Universit or which I work decided to ive him an honorary doctorate. I think that theUniversiy honoured itself by giving this outstanding poet a degree honoris causa.


The speech that he gave after acceptiong the award was both generous in the sentiments expressed and inspiring to a large number of faculty and students who had attended the Convocation.
One thing that this great poet said struck me. On the road from Chennai Airport we got talking and he said that we in India can never relate to each other as "equals". We understand only two tyes of relationships one of "master" the other of "servant". As a nation it seems we have not learnt treat people as equals.
The large crowd that ad gathered to get his autograph shows that the tounger generation does take its cultural icons seriously. As for me I emerged richer for the experience and meeting this poet marked the high point of my long association with the University where I teach.