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. 

Will return of the Gandhi scion resurrect or bury the party?

Of late the return of the Gandhi scion has taken much of newspaper and media space. The congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is back from Thailand after 56 day sabbatical. I fail to understand why press is going gaga over his break and his return. Congress party and Gandhi family passing through testing times. Though winning or losing elections is a common phenomenon for any political party, but for congress’s winning record has hit rock bottom and people are wary of everything happening in Congress. Rahul Gandhi undoubtedly has every right to take a break from this gruelling political acrobatics. But even his staunch advisers feel that this is very badly planned and timed move. Presently I feel congress party has reached a terminal stage, where any call taken by Mrs Gandhi can either resurrect it or bury it completely.The recent statements by Digvijay Singh and Sheela Dixit are indicators of conflict within the party. And these conflicting voices its leaders will certainly have adverse impact on the party image.

But it is not an uncommon to hear dissenting voices in the face such massive defeat. Whenever the party suffered massive defeats a section of its leadership gets impatient to leave the party by finding some scapegoat or some excuse, which was clearly visible during 1969, 1989 and 1995 elections .

It is time for Congress to take a call whether it still needs a reluctant leader at the helm. Even though there have been such instances in the party in the past. It is time to assert itself when the BJP’s graph is falling as per the latest India Today report. It is facing very rough weather in getting the Land Acquisition Bill passed. In fact Mrs Sonia had led the entire opposition to President for revocation which augers well, as not only the opposition political parties are opposing it, even the prominent social groups like Medha Patkar, Anna Hazare etc are also opposing it tooth and nail, on the plea that the Govt is hobnobbing with the Corporate Houses, as far as this bill is concerned.

Despite its worst electoral defeat no one can write off its relevance as age old party. It's history shows numerous instances of electoral defeats and come backs. But this time around it has not yet shown any indication of its revival and it is wasting the opportunity to have the Govt on mat on issues that opposition and social groups both within and outside the parliament are opposing. Whatever it is Mr Rahul, has certainly failed to enthuse the workers and voters as well. His unorthodox campaign style and vanishing tricks have raised questions about his ability to lead and to keep the party together. Inspite of all its failure we find a person carrying its flag in every Indian village but we don’t see any credible leader leading them. It is one of the main reasons for its disappearance locally.

If proper steps are not taken to revive the party now, this party will perish. I feel it would have been more apt had Rahul accepted the responsibility for the defeat of the congress and resigned with dignity rather than doing something now, which will trigger more intense speculation and provides ammunition to others. I personally fail to understand Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s insecurities.

PV finally gets his due

Recently the NDA Govt has taken a decision to have a memorial built for our  forgotten former Prime Minister Mr  PV NarasimhaRao, in New Delhi,which is very much a laudable one. Mrs Soniaji has to hang their heads in shame as their own leader who backed nuclear testing, ushered in liberal reforms and played a pivotal role in look east policy has been denied a proper place in history.  And credit goes to Mr Narendra Modi and one should be happy that at least after a decade of his death Memorial will be built in Delhi. But the fact of the matter is Mr Naidu APCM must have certainly put lot efforts in this since he is shrewd politician, having an eye on Bharat Ratna for NTR, must have tried to avoid conflict of interest between PV & NTR. He has been trying hard for Bharat Ratna for NTR while KCR of course made out a case for PV's BharatRatna. Now we have see how far KCR would succeed vis a vis his AP counter part Naidu. The point to ponder is that in New Delhi it has streets named after all and sundry from conquerors to councillors and it is also a fact that at least 3 members of his cabinet Mr Arjun Singh, Mr MadhavRao Scindia and Mr Rajesh pilot ,each have street named after them but not for PV.

 His Finance Minister Mr Manmohan Singh respectfully paid tributes to him every year during his Prime Minister ship. But his Govt was neither able to build a memorial nor was able to award him with nation's highest honour, which he richly deserved for his contribution to the economic and foreign policies. But surprisingly the move to honour him had been sponsored by non congress Govts of AP &TS.

 Since Mr P V was able to provide strong political leadership to the nation at a particularly difficult situation in the recent history he deserves more when compared to others .

 He had demonstrated greater political courage in advocating and leading the new economic policy which came into being in the year 1980's, than his predecessor Mr Rajiv and it  was without  doubt an architect of India's foreign policy. We all have seen him that as Minister for Industries he signed the famous Industrial Statement Policy of July 24th 1991 which ended license, permit and quota Raj. As all of us know that Mr PV went beyond liberating Indian enterprise from bureaucratic hassles, celebrated its rise and he was the one to award Bharat Ratna to most deserving business leader JRD Tata in 1992.

 The only blot on his prime ministership was the demolition of Babri Masjid. He had been a consensual leader who befriended all and reached out to all opposition leaders at any point of time. He was not flawless but which leader is? Inspite of his failings nor mistakes he still deserved the highest honour in addition to the proposed memorial.

 

My Contemplation...

Nirbhaya issue is ruling the roost in the media now a days.There are arguments and counter arguments for banning the interview of Nirbhaya rape convict, by a British film maker Udwin who herself a rape victim
 There was an outrage in parliament few days ago on the same issue and it is unfortunate that the Govt of India had no knowledge about the film till the last minute as it was scheduled to go on air on the international women’s day. But I personally feel there was no need for such knee jerk reaction which led to banning of the documentary. Documentary reveals the criminal’s mindset. How will any remedy be possible unless the mindset of the criminal is not known?
This documentary has created not only controversy about the freedom of media, but also opened up about the issue of ethics of public broadcast on human values. Here I have question as to why the BBC targeted only Indian society and pictured it negatively across the world?
Don't we find many more heinous crimes and rapes committed in many other parts of the world? But both BBC and the producer chose only India for telling the world about the mindset of the Indian national who committed this dastardly act.
The producer very deftly termed that denying permission to broadcast the documentary is missing a chance to prove that it is a nation with a progressive thought. In fact I have a straight question to her as to why BBC was forced to stop films shot on Royal family affairs on the last minute. Why this great BBC still not finding racism in UK a shame?
The western media has made it its business to showcase Indians and India in poor light for its own commercial reasons. Infact the ban should be the last resort and to be imposed in exceptional circumstances. But BBC in this case falls under that exceptional category. Freedom of expression also entails some responsibilities which it had ignored. It is a sad state of affairs, though more than 65 years have elapsed since we got independence, a happy, peaceful and violence free life is still a mirage for Indian women. Media exposure to sensational rapes and questionable debates may invariably have harmful affect on young minds. A nation which does not respect its women can never be a great nation.

Unworthy heir

Rahul Gandhi's leave of absence and government snooping on him have been hot topic of discussion. As far as leave of absence is concerned I think media is overreacting and giving it more importance than it requires. Why make a hue and cry about 1 MP out of 450 MPs goes on leave of absence? There are other more important issues to cover than a mere MP going on leave. However the leave of absence when parliament is in session is something unheard of in the annals of politics and more so when there is an urgent need to revamp the party after its dismal performance in last elections. I remember several times he disappeared like this before too. It is not acceptable for a leader to vanish like this. These incidents show that he lacks the capability of taking quick and precise decisions. This absence may cost him good opportunity to put the NDA on mat on various issues, especially after BJP's humiliating defeat in the recent Delhi elections and the unqualified support for the congress led UPA on Land Acquision Bill provides the perfect setting for this grand old party to take on the role of an effective opposition. In fact Rahul Gandhi has been instrumental in 2013 amendments to Land Acquisition Bill. The budding leader should have taken advantage of these opportunities instead running away. 

Coming to snooping, I think snooping or bugging by the party in power has become the order of the day, whether it congress or BJP. This evil started during Mrs Gandhi's time, the entire opposition protested against tapping of their phones. Another prominent incidence of snooping which escalated into a massive crisis was of illegal surveillance against Rajiv Gandhi led to fall Chandrasekhar government in 1991.  But BJP is also not above the board. In fact Gujarat government was notorious for bugging and surveillance, one such case of snooping was of Madhuri Soni, who was kept under surveillance and everywhere she went that state was requested to do the surveillance. Even Nitin Gadkari was complaining of his phone being bugged. Surveillance is usually carried out on Home Minister or Home Secretaries written instructions but even that rule was not followed by the then Gujarat Government and I'm afraid that the same policy is being followed by Modi government even now.  The act of snooping invades privacy of the person hence should not be practiced by any government.