An uncanny link between politics and sports!

The current topic of discussion Lalit Gate brings to the fore the overlap between politics and sports in India. Sports should be independent of vested interests and conflicts of interest. Couple of days back Time of India carried an article titled "BJP in disarray" where party leaders including R K Singh and former Union Home Secretary have questioned the party's stand to defend Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje in Lalit Modi scandal.  All this has come to public domain after the Sunday TIMES in UK came out with big story which stated British Labour MP of Indian origin has on Sushma Swaraj's  to expedite Lalit Modi's travel permit.
Swaraj had sent a written request to Vaz to issue the required documents to Lalit Modi to travel to UK to sign the papers pertaining to his ailing wife. And the problem here is that it had been discreetly done, keeping her own Ministry in dark and it is known fact that Lalith Modi is a fugitive having about 16 cases pending against him, for money laundering to the tune is 1700 crores and he fled to UK in 2010 against whom a red corner notice is pending since UPA's time. And Modi himself confessed openly that Raje had helped him to get the extended stay in UK and not only she had sent a written communication she even travelled with his wife to Portugal in her private capacity.
the MPs and Ministers who are supposed to concentrate more on legislation are only closely moving or hobnobbing with fugitives and criminals,which led to sordid state of affairs in the Indian context.
The series of charges levelled against Swaraj and Raje may or may not involve criminality but it is established beyond doubt that it is grave political impropriety by the both BJP leaders. Infact there seems to be conflict of interest arising out of links between Lalit Modi and the two BJP leaders along with their families, which only compounds the damage as both of them have engaged clandestinely with British authorities to help a fugitive from Indian law enforcing agencies.
The behaviour of senior leaders is not at all acceptable as it makes their position untenable even if there was no proven conflict of interest or any murky business deals. How can any one justify that Swaraj's lawyer daughter seeking the revocation of Modi' s passport in court when her own Ministry was opposing.  Nor can anyone justify the inflow of funds from this cricket Czar to a loss making and dormant firm of Dushyant, son of Mrs Raje.

The root cause of all this controversy relates to the nexus between politicians, sportsmen and bureaucrats. 

I would say that this issue is threatening Narendra Modi's message of making India an incorruptuble nation. But The PM and senior leaders silence on this may lead to various wrong assumptions and therefore it is high time for Modi government to demonstrate that it will not fall for this play as far as the investigation on Lalit Modi regarding his taxes and foreign exchange issues while perusing the probes. 

Over Publicity Negates A Brave Mission

Days after June 4th killing of about 20 jawans of Indian Army by NSCN militants, a robust response has come from the Indian forces, by striking at the militant camps across the border and inside Myanmar territory. It shows that Modi is willing to bite the bullet. Confirmation of this strike has been made by the Minister of State for IB Mr Rajavardhan Singh Rathode. But the fact of the matter is, the killing of insurgents inside the Myanmar border may not be a big deal for an army of India's size. Indeed the operation is ridiculously small when compared to the liberation of Bangladesh by Mrs Indira Gandhi. After this incident we saw everyday the electronic media to continuously engage Pakistan in war of words over this operation. Is it really necessary? I feel the Indian media never seems to learn lessons. You all know it was Indian media's over drive in Nepal, following the quake that soured our relations with Kathmadu. Now can we afford to face the similar situation in Myanmar? 
When we are talking about regional peace, the sovereignty of neighbouring countries should be respected? We already have disturbed relations with Pakisthan and China. We cannot antagonise Myanmar, one may remember that India had carried out similar strikes starting with : Operation golden bird in 1995. The Indian army has smoked out militants in Myanmar and Bhutan with the consent and active participation of those Govts. Ofcorse it was all under wraps. But now what is our stand when Myanmar appears to be contradicting the Indian story? 

Infact people are of the opinion that rather than warn Pakisthan why can't India conduct a similar surprise raids on POK which has many terrorist camps? And for this we can justify saying self defence. This should be the available solution for against Pakisthan's acts of terrorism.
Right from the beginning of the present episode, India should have played out this cross border raid with more tact. Both the Indian army and the media should have avoided talking too much about the incident.

However with regards to this incident there are two schools of thought, one is that India will no longer tolerate when faced with terrorist attacks, while the other school of thought is, that the Myanmar is contradicting Indian side of story, it is a slap on us.Amidst this one has to evaluate the ground realities. While such operations can be conducted with ease on Nepal, Myanmar or Bhutan, the countries with which our relations are on different plane, but would this type move be so easy in the case of Pakistan or China? In case India wants such operations in due course why so much unnecessary publicity, which may result in many more problems.

International Day of Yoga

 It is International Day of Yoga on 21st June (also father's day this year).  The declaration of this came about only after Prime Minister Modi called for it and more than 177 countries including USA, Egypt, Canada and China supported the move at UN General Assembly. 
It is welcome move by Modi to promote this ancient tradition of Yoga and to bring forth the Indian contribution towards the welfare of international community. And the Central Govt's initiative to promote it on a mass scale is welcome, but  I personally feel, the Govt is going overboard with this initiative and its over enthusiasm is creating wrong perception among people. Governments invovlement makes it more like propaganda tool to promote Hindu culture and is diverting people from core aspect of reaping the health benefits from yoga.
It is an ancient tradition which doesnot need such demonstrative approach to promoting it. All it needs to do is to facilitate its practice and not enforce it. 
And I strongly feel the government's extra efforts are hindering it from becoming a people's movement.  This hyper active promotions have led the Govt, to withdraw Suryanamskara, which is part of Yoga, as lot of euphoria has been generated that it was against the tenets of ISLAM. However the government acted fast and cleverly withdrew it.
It is a fact the both health and education (about yoga), have been relegated to the back ground, by the successive Governments. Unlike in the west where they are accorded top priority and the benefits of it having been internationally acclaimed. Yoga is being practised by millions of people across the globe where majority of the people are either Muslims or Christians
Yoga offers a perfect and time tested solutions to societal problems faced by today's world therefore YOGA DAY would provide a fitting occasion to acknowledge the invaluable contribution made by our ancestors, rishis and munis.