Time to Stand-Up / get Counted

For the voters of Delhi , Dec 04, 2013 will be the time to stand up and get counted

How they opt to get counted will decide their future for the next 5 years

What are their options ?

Ø  Vote for Congress

-      And continue to suffer for the next 5 years , as they have been suffering for the past 15 years

-      Of course , they will have the satisfaction of having themselves elected their tormentors  democratically – hence suffer in silence

Ø  Vote for BJP

-       Lesser of the two Evils !

-       Voters may even look forward to some small improvements in their surroundings if , BJP also wins 2014 National elections with an absolute majority . Rub-off effect from a friendly Center !

Ø  Vote for Aam Admi Party ( AAP )

-      In each constituency , get AAP candidate to distribute to all the voters , signed copies of his / her LOCAL MANIFESTO and DECLARATION filed with Returning Officer

-      In each Election Sabha , ask Arvind Kejriwal to re-commit his party’s promise to pass Jan Lok Pal Bill ( for Delhi ) within 15 days of assuming power. Get it in writing !

-      If he does , then vote for and elect , AT LEAST 40 AAP CANDIDATES on Dec 04 .

   Remember , if AAP cannot form a government  entirely on its own strength , they cannot bring about any reforms !

   It has to be , either an Absolute Majority or a minority with nothing more than a nuisance value !

-      For the next 5 years , for Delhi-ites , this is their last chance to get a corruption-free government

Delhi-ites ,

-      This is your  ONLY HOPE ( light at the end of the dark tunnel ! )

-       You have only ONE option !

·          hemen  parekh  (  05  Oct  2013  )

4 Down / 1400 to Go !

Yesterday , CBI court convicted following in the Fodder Scam :

Ø   Lalu Yadav   ( RJD ) ………………………………..  5 years

Ø   Jagannath Mishra  (  Congress )………………  4 years

Ø   Jagdish Sharma  (  JD – U )…………………….  4 years

Ø  R K Sharma  ( RJD )………………………………….  5 years

People are demanding that ,

Ø    CBI assert its new-found and Supreme-Court inspired “ Independence / Courage “ to book those highly-placed politicians involved in CWG / 2G / 3G / Coal-gate / illegal mining and other sundry scams, and on-the-double

Ø    Lower Courts / High Courts and the Supreme Court display a greater degree of “ Judicial Activism “ in protecting the rights / interests of common man

Let these convictions mark the “ Beginning of the End “ of the Scam-raj and Crime-raj which has engulfed Indian politics for the past 20 years

People are counting :

4 Down / 1400 to Go !

·          hemen  parekh  ( 04 Oct 2013 )    

Dynasty Rule ?

All over the world , mighty Kings  – and their successors – ruled many countries for centuries

Few hundred years back , oppressed / suffering people revolted and brought in other forms of political governance , such as Democratic /  Communist  /  Socialist

But dictatorship did not go away . Even today , it persists in parts of the World , supported either by local armies or by some far away Super Power having vested interest in continuation of Banana Republics

But in apparently democratic systems , what makes persons like Silvio Berlusconi /  Mugabe  / Sonia Gandhi , continue to rule ?

Silvio and Mugabe are not even dynastic !

When a majority of voters continue to elect / select them , year after year , there is no point in blaming the “ Dynasty “ ! 

Just keep watching ,

Ø    Jagan Reddy

Ø    Tejaswi Yadav

Ø    Uddhav Thakerey

Ø    Jyotiraditya Scindia

Ø    Sachin Pilot

Ø    Milind Deora …  etc

Apparantly , the Sons ( Sun ? ) are rising in all directions !

Blame the people , if you must !

Influence and change people’s  thinking , if you can

 !

These politicians cannot continue to occupy their positions of power , unless people continue to vest them with those powers !

NDA Inc !

Rahul Gandhi may still become the next PM of India , if he succeeds in convincing the people that there is nothing inherently “ Evil “ about dynastic rule

Evil lies in bad governance

·          hemen  parekh  (  04  Oct  2013  )

Why ? Why ? Why ?

For many hours yesterday , on a number of TV channels , experts were asking :

Why,

Ø  Man Mohan Singh cow-towed before Rahul ?

Ø  Cabinet surrendered its supremacy to Sonia ?

Ø  Sonia kept quiet against son’s insubordination ?

Ø  Sushma Swaraj ( & Co ) did not oppose the bill initially ?

Ø  Milind Deora was silenced ?

Ø  Samajwadi Party wants the Ordinance passed – even as a Bill ?

Ø  Narendra Modi is deafeningly silent on the entire episode ?

Ø  Subramaniam Swamy feels dejected ?

Ø  Rajnath Singh is trying to corner all credit ?

Ø  Sharad Pawar was sulking with back-stabbing ?

Ø  Manish Tewari was just about to cry ?

Ø  Mahesh Jethmalani had no answer for Babulal Bokhadia ?

Ø  Ram Jethmalani called Rahul , an unlikely hero ?

Ø  Gurudas Dasgupta sounded “ holier than thou “ ?

Ø  Kapil Sibbal / Chidambaram hid from the media ?

Ø  Rahul failed to apologize to PM , in public ?

Ø  Arnab Goswami forgo his divine right to drown the voice of panelists ?

My own take of the entire episode :

Ø  Why keep asking the “ why “ ?

Ø  Why must we forever try to figure out the “ cause “ ?

Ø  Why are we obsessed with the presumed  ulterior “ motives ” ?

Ø  Why can’t we just be happy that the will of the people has prevailed ?

Ø  Why not let the future unravel itself ?

Ø  Why not rejoice with the outcome ?

Ø  Instead of merely speculating what will happen next , why not people – and media –assert themselves and speak up loudly about,

#   Political parties to be covered by RTI

#   Electoral Reforms

#   Women’s Representation

#   Jan Lok Pal Bill…etc

Let us send out to the corrupt – and power hungry – politicians , a  very loud and clear , “ Do or Die “ call  !

·           Hemen  parekh  (  03  Oct  2013  )

Advantage Rahul ?

When Rahul Gandhi meets Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh today , we will know who wins the first round

After a lapse of some 66 years , another Gandhi has staked his career and taken a principled stand in the matter of criminally convicted legislators

May be , earlier he failed to convince the Old Guards

May be the Coalition Dharma weighed him down

May be mother Sonia miserably failed to judge people’s mood

Now the chips are down !

And the outcome of this meeting will reveal , either the ugly face of India’s political past or the beautiful face of a new and youthful future

But even if Rahul wins this round , there are many more waiting to be won , before 2014 elections

A few of these are :

Ø    Coverage of political parties under RTI

Ø    Electoral Reforms Bill

Ø    Women’s Representation Bill

Ø    Jan Lok Pal Bill …. etc

Political future of Congress in 2014 elections will get decided by Rahul winning these rounds as well

If Rahul continues to display the same “ Courage of Conviction “ in these rounds , he may still succeed in stealing the thunder of Narendra Modi !

Today , a billion Indians will be watching the TV for “ Breaking the News “ !

·          hemen  parekh  (  02 Oct 2013 / Gandhi Jayanti  )

Minority Report ?

Yesterday , in his letter to the Chief Ministers of States , Union Home Minister , Shushil Kumar Shinde wrote ,

“  I request you that no innocent person of the Minority community is unduly detained… Government has to ensure that no innocent person is subjected to undue harassment “

Did he mean  ,

“  You may continue to unduly detain an innocent person , if he belongs to the Majority community “  ?

Or that ,

“ It is alright to ‘duly‘ harass , a guilty person – whatever his community “ ?

Of course , not !

And please , do not confuse “ Minority “ with “ Muslims “ !

That would offend , Christians , Sikhs , Buddhists and Jains . Even they don’t  like to be detained “ unduly “ , if innocent .

 (  But go ahead and detain them duly – even if innocent !  )

Now remember , Shindeji has no problem with States unduly detaining “ Guilty “ persons – whether belonging to Minority or to the Majority !

But the States are saying ,

“ Shindeji , when we detain a person , we don’t know whether he is guilty or innocent . We only suspect and collect evidence . Then it is the court which decides whether a person is guilty or innocent . Now , what can we do if courts take 20 / 30 years to decide ? “

Considering that it will take 300 years for the Indian Courts to dispose off all the pending cases , it would have been better if Shindeji has announced setting-up of 10 ,000 new , fast-track courts. Of course , before 2014 elections !

Then , Chief Ministers would not write back , demanding definitions of

Ø  Majority or Minority ( can CM decide ? )

Ø  Duly or Unduly harassed ( Can Police Chief decide ? )

Ø  Guilty or Innocent ( Can arresting officer decide ? )

·          hemen  parekh  (  01, Oct  2013  )

  

Murder is a Many Splendored Thing !

In pre-historic times , man hunted only animals – and to satisfy hunger.

Now , even as “ Civilized “ man continues to kill animals for hunger, he has also mastered the art / science of killing other man for ,

Ø  Anger / Jealousy / Greed / Sex or even Love

Ø  Property / Money / Pride / Possession / Power , or even Religion

And succeeded in giving this act , different “ Names “ ( depending upon one-at-a-time or many simultaneously ) , such as ,

Ø  War

Ø  Genocide

Ø  Ethnic Cleansing

Ø  Communal Riots

Ø  Murder

Ø  Homicide

Ø  Slaughter

Ø  Honor-Killing …………………. etc

Then he also “ Murders “ many people through negligence / dereliction of duty when he becomes “ Directly but Unintentionally “ responsible for ,

Ø  Sinking of leaky boats

Ø  Rickety buses falling into ravines

Ø  Fire engulfing theatres and malls

Ø  Poorly maintained buildings crashing

Ø  Trains de-railing

Ø  Driving while drunk  ………  etc

And now , we pride ourselves on being “ Civilized “ !

While animals / birds / insects continue to kill , only if they are hungry !

·          Hemen  parekh  (  30  Sept  2013  )

A 100 years Stand-off ?

Only yesterday , our PM Man Mohan Singh declared in the UN General Assembly ,

Ø  State of “ Jammu and Kashmir “ is an integral part of India

Ø  There will be no compromise with the territorial integrity of India

Ø  The only basis for negotiations is Simla Agreement

Ø  India does not recognize earlier UN resolutions as a basis

On earlier day , Pak PM Nawaz Sharif had raised the Kashmir issue in the General Assembly during his speech ( I presume repeating earlier UN resolution re conducting a plebiscite ! )

Over the past 65 years , following opinions have been expressed ,

Ø  Various Indian Prime Ministers :

Ditto as Man Mohan Singh

Ø  Various Pak Prime Ministers :

Ditto as Nawaz Sharif

Ø  Right Wing political parties on both sides :

Let us invade the enemy country ( ala Israel ? ) and re-occupy our lost territory

Ø  Separatists on both the sides :

We want an independent country of Kashmir

Ø  Farooq Abdullah :

We must resolve Kashmir issue thru dialogue with Pakistan

Ø  Omar Abdullah :

Kashmir only “ Acceded “ to India. It has never “Merged” with India

Ø  Vasant Sathe :

The only workable solution is to convert existing LoC to an International Border between India and Pakistan

Ø  Sundry ordinary citizens :

Make both parts of Kashmir , a UN governed territory , where people of both India and Pakistan can travel freely ( without passports ) as “ Tourists “ – and get a warm welcome by people of Kashmir 

Rhetoric ( meant for public consumption ) apart , one thing ought to be clear to people – and politicians - of both the countries that any attempt to re-occupy the territory “ lost “ to the enemy ( ? ) country thru an armed invasion , would result in an all-out Nuclear War , which will,

Ø  Kill millions of innocent citizens

Ø  Get halted by American / Russian / Chinese intervention

I hope this realization looms large when Sharif / Singh meet today in New York

Vasant Sathe’s suggestion may prove to be the only practical – and peaceful , solution

It appears to me that only other Indian with a moral courage to translate this suggestion into pragmatic action , is Rahul Gandhi !

Or else , prepare for a 100 years stand-off !

·          hemen  parekh  (  29  Sept  2013  )