By giving an absolute majority to the UPA (Congress + allies), the Indian voters have shunned the whining Left and idiotic BJP. The campaign by the BJP became a laughing stock for many. The inane grounds on which these ads were based, created a sense of irritation among the India voters. I strongly feel that the youth of India has supported the Congress and I personally know few who were previously ardent BJP supporters but have now diverted to Congress. Lack of leadership, vision and dogmatic views are major factors that have gone against the BJP. Advani as PM would have been disastrous for the country and Modi is their PM candidate for 2014, then only Rakhi Sawant as Congress PM candidate would deter voters from voting for Congress.

I have head so many professionals praise Modi for the job he is doing in Gujarat. Their appreciation is influenced by deep sense of hatred for minorities (Muslims and Christians), Gandhi family and short sighted view of the world. They tend to forget the fact that Gujarat has always been industrially advanced than most states in the country and thus by making investment climate corporate friendly there, Modi had done no magic. Consider the case of Nitish Kumar, the CM of Bihar. His hard work is slowly bringing in investments into the region, which Lalu had completely destroyed in its 20 years of rule. Inspite of having, undoubtedly, the best brains in the country, the state failed to tap the brilliance of Bihari youth who had handicaps of lack of high quality education in the state. The scene is slowly changing in the state for good and the electorate their understand this! Modi is no Nitish and he can never be, at least on this planet.

The results of this election should lay grounds for existing state and central government to work hard or face the axe in the next elections. This year’s results have shunned the previously existing notion of quality of governance being a no factor and anti incumbency factor being inevitable.

I hope the Congress continues its good work for another 5 years as well.

HT

The Samajwadi Party manifesto for Lok Sabha polls promises closure of English medium schools which charge “high” fee, curbs on high salaries and perks, end to mechanization to facilitate more employment and seizure of assets of people having excess wealth to end corruption. [HT]

A rattled Congress today withdrew leaders Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar from the electoral fray as the ghost of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots returned to haunt the party. Not wanting to alienate the Sikhs on the eve of general elections, the Congress leadership decided to withdraw both leaders following the din over the CBI clean chit to Tytler in one of the riot cases. Tytler, the party candidate in North East Delhi, and Sajjan Kumar, contesting the South Delhi seat, were called by senior party leaders Pranab Mukherjee and Ahmed Patel and told to opt out of the race, according to Congress sources. [Indian Express]

Even though the act by Jarnail Singh is highly deplorable, particularly by the fact that it was directed against a very respectable man and more particularly by the fact that there are very few respectable men and women in politics, it served its purpose. I am still amazed by the speed at which events unfolded in the past 48 hours. I was not expecting anything from the protests, similar to the million or so protests that take in Delhi every year. Its a victory for the citizen of this country, which must be treated with utmost caution and responsibility.

The BJP has always been critical of the Congress for its role in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 but it has always turned a blind eye towards the doings of its own leader. Their prime ministerial candidate, Advani, has involvement in umpteen number of riots directed against the Muslims. There would be nothing more shameful for a democracy, of the stature of India, if the the Advani is elected the PM. People with criminal background, frauds, thugs and money launderers have already occupied the prestigious posts of central ministers. Never before this nation has seen a person with criminal background become the PM of this country. Manmohan Singh and Vajpayee were highly respected men. They command and would continue to hold a position of high respect among the masses. They were learned men who were admired by Indians and Foreigners alike. It made me proud as a citizen of this county to admire and look in awe while they spoke in public forums.

I have my fingers crossed.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Update 1: Another incident in Haryana

In a second incident of its kind in a week, a retired school teacher on Friday hurled his shoe towards Congress MP Navin Jindal in Kurukshetra “to protest” against Congress’ policies but missed his target.

Ram Kumar threw his shoe towards Jindal during an election rally in Kurukshetra constituency, police sources said here. [Hindustantimes ]

I recently shifted from Toilet of India to Hindustantimes. It has nothing to do with the quality of news ToI covers, its just that I find myself just not capable to appreciate the beauty of ‘breaking news’ reporting. I do understand that people who end up doing nothing in life, end up being journalist at ToI. People who don’t understand abc of finance, get to cover the Satyam fiasco and blame anything they can lay their hands on. For them, any professional is same as those illiterate politicians and any drama in the corporate world is same as those orchestrated by those filthy politicians. ToI is a paper of the politicians, for the politicians and by slightly more demented politicians.

The kind of reporting ToI has done in the Satyam scandal, can easily qualify it for the reward of rediff of print media. The news items were pathetic, astonishing and provocative. The quality of journalism hasn’t just been compromised, it has been murdered. The most surprising about the whole drama was the fact that people who were never even heard of, were now heard blaming respected institutions and professionals. If it were to me, I would love to sue ToI for a amount so huge that all those demented journalist put together cannot earn all there lives.

Its high time for ToI to either look at better places for recruitment or start a full time propaganda channel.

Ooooournam, the anchor of 9 o’clock news on Times Now, rocks!

 bade shahron mein aise ek adh hadse hote rahte hain. Woh 5,000 logon ko marne aye the lekin humne kitna kum nuksan hone diya . (Such small incidents happen in big cities. They (terrorists) came to kill 5,000 people but we ensured minimal damage)

The wannabe Shahrukh Khan, ex-Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra R R Patil.

Some women wearing lipstick and powder have taken to streets in Mumbai and are abusing politicians spreading dissatisfaction against democracy. This is what terrorists are doing in Jammu and Kashmir

BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. Yes Mr. Naqvi, the illiterate politicians really make India proud.

If it had not been (Major) Sandeep’s house, not even a dog would have glanced that way

Kerala chief minister V S Achuthanandan responded on Monday to the family of NSG Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, slain in the Mumbai terror attack during commando operations, after he was refused by the Major’s father.

This is two part series of a very enlightening interview from Amaresh Misra, a renowned historian, an activist who witnessed the tragic events in Mumbai. He has a very different view of the things occurred.
He wrote a book  on te 1857 war of Indepedence. (http://www.warofcivilisations.blogspot.com/)
He is one the few voices who were not given much coverage by the “Pseudo Secular” Indian media.

He brought some interesting insights into the tragedy:

1. The mysterious circumstances under which the ATS Chief Karatke and the top brass was wiped out.

2. The number of muslims killed which are around 30.

3. The mystery behind Nariman House and his inside scoop on this place.

4. The identity of Terrorists.

Well, have you ever heard to Amaresh Mishra? The whole point is that you dig out material that conforms your view and present that as an authentic piece.

I don’t care if the above statements carry any weight or not. But I am concerned by the sheer audacity of terrorists that spread havoc in the city. Suddenly terrorism is at our door steps. Suddenly terrorism is a major concern in the corporate world, which was previously was just concerned minting money. The attack on the Taj has instilled a sense of anger that cannot be calmed down so easily. How does it feel to hear news on the TV channels that few fanatics are firing at will on the same railway station your brother is waiting for the train? How does it feel that your wife is texting you that she is under her bed in the hotel room and a terrorist has just entered her room? How does it feel when you get phone calls from children whom their parents left behind home for a party in the Taj? And it all happened in that fateful night. I was lucky to have seen everyone come out safe but is it just a matter of time? It’s not just the bazaars which are at risk now, it’s also the banquets at 7 star hotels which can now be blown to pieces.

The juvenile email above fans my anger. The 60 hours of drama is over but the scars would remain for years. This isn’t an era where terrorist attack would happen every 2 or 3 years, they can happen every month. People who used to treat the threat terrorism posed to the India as frivolous, seems to have woken up. I am not going to write and write on this topic each day. Its because at present this is the only way i can vent my anger.

This was just waiting to happen. And it was just a matter of time before terror would have shown its ugly face in the national capital. The blasts in Connaught place, Greater Kailash- I, Karol Bagh and Barakhamba road have so far claimed 18 lives and I can only hope that it stays 18. These places have been the heart of Delhi. As a matter of fact my ideal weekend would start in Karol Bagh, afternoon at the M Block market in GK and then evening at CP. Most Delhite would be either of the 3 places on a weekend. And particularly when Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Bangalore have been hit, these three places where just waiting for their share.

Even though these places have been so critical from security point of view, the security arrangements at these places have been pathetic. The M block market had no security check points, few shops in CP had their own security guard, Karol bagh never cared about bombs and the Barakhamba road too had no preventive measures at place. The whole demographics of Delhi is such that implementing security at these places is next to impossible. The point is that most blasts took place on the roads, how do you secure your roads in a jam packed market? The high population density makes the task further difficult. As a matter of fact these low density blasts are nearly impossible to control in any place. How on earth do you keep track of all the dust bins and the cars commuting?

Update: Another live bomb has been recovered at the India Gate.
Photo from TOI

At his ripe old age, I do not expect Shri Advani to change his thinking. But for his sake and India’s sake, I urge him at least to change his astrologers so that he gets more accurate predictions of things to come.

Manmohan Singh in a speech after UPA’s win in the Parliament. The full text of the speech can be found here
Even though he has virtually been ‘womanhandled’ by Sonia Gandhi, the kind of maturity he shown is definitely commendable. His well articulated speech in the Parliament definitely proves this. He is not someone who would pander to the desires of cheap politicians and resort to gali galoch. I hope he had more freedom to perform.

Picture from HT

• the creamy layer has been excluded
• cut-off marks for admission has been set as a maximum of 10 (I hope its strictly adhered to)
• there is  phased implementation of the quota

And headlines like 27 pc quota upheld: Are OBCs India’s new rulers? aren’t just contemptuous, they are virulent as well.