[Reader-list] Election Forecast

Sun May 17 01:37:34 IST 2009

better than gratuity, ADvani ji might promote Nano car of Tata Ji

and some advertise NAVRATTAN OIL,

 i am sure  he will outwit AmitabBachan on that

and earn more bucks, to  enjoy trout fish with red wine in Manali with
 VajPAYEE Ji


On Sun, May 17, 2009 at 12:27 AM, Pawan Durani <pawan.durani at gmail.com> wrote:
> Great show by Congress .....
>
> However the best thing about this election was the worst performance of Left
> in last 40 years.
>
> Advani Ji now needs a peaceful retirement and perhaps may be rewarded with
> Gratuity and other benefits.....
>
> Pawan
>
>
>
> On Sun, May 17, 2009 at 12:11 AM, Rakesh Iyer <rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Dear all
>>
>> I had gone out, so apologies (if required) for the delay.
>>
>> Unlike Anupam jee, I don't have problems with people changing their views
>> provided they stick to it. So I won't comment on that.
>>
>> What I will comment on are some interesting thoughts. First of all, India
>> has a parliamentary system where people choose their representatives on the
>> first by post principle, and there are a number of factors at play. What is
>> certainly not a factor (neither in 2004 nor in 2009 as CSDS surveys done by
>> Yogendra Yadav repeatedly indicate) is the issue of the Prime Minister.
>>
>> Forget Advani or Manmohan Singh or Rahul Gandhi or Narendra Modi. Even if
>> Lord Krishna, Lord Ram, Prophet Muhammad or Jesus Christ were to stand for
>> the post of Prime Minister, it would hardly make an effect, simply because
>> people don't vote for personalities as PM. The major issues before people
>> are concerned with their livelihood, be it 'roti, kapda and makan', water,
>> health (this means a good hospital with working people and working
>> equipments in the village or nearby places), good connection to cities
>> through roads, education, and in this particular issue, two more issues
>> were
>> important: inflation and security.
>>
>> So actually, the BJP did have issues to fight with: inflation and
>> terrorism.
>> Except that BJP doesn't have a great record in them either.
>>
>> As far as inflation is concerned, I can only remind of the 1998 elections
>> in
>> Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, where BJP suffered a 440-KV shock on
>> losing state elections. And as for terrorism, we all know how they fared.
>> The Kandahar fiasco, the Parliament attack, the Godhra incident (I mention
>> this here because the Gujarat BJP unit repeatedly mentioned this as an
>> ISI-sponsored attack, so they can clarify on this. I mention it as an
>> intelligence failure), the Akshardham temple attack, the Raghunath temple
>> attack, the bomb blasts in Mulund and Ghatkopar, and so on. So before
>> throwing stones at others, the BJP should look at its' own shallow record
>> with respect to terror in the past.
>>
>> And on top of all this, then they have the foolishness in them to say that
>> L.K. Advani is a strong leader. And to indicate this, they had posters
>> showing Advani clenching his fists! Great! That way we could have put one
>> of
>> the wrestlers who had won a bronze medal for us in Olympics 2008 as the PM
>> candidate! Nobody could have been stronger than that!
>>
>> Strength doesn't come by repeatedly saying that 'I am strong'. A person who
>> is strong will never say that about himself; it's others who say that about
>> him. Here we had Advani shooting off his own mouth about how strong he was.
>> And people knew how to respond.
>>
>> Secondly, contrary to your statements Vedavati jee, the BJP hasn't done
>> that
>> well as expected. In MP, it was expected to win more than 20 seats. And
>> Congress was not certainly expecting 10 seats which it won there. As for
>> Rajasthan, BJP has been wiped out when compared to last election. Only
>> Chhatisgarh and Gujarat are the states where BJP has done better than
>> previous times, in addition to Jharkhand of course.
>>
>> Thirdly, you are right. BJP should have expanded their base. But base could
>> have been expanded by throwing away Hindutva (which ironically brings to
>> them supporters like you but alienates many), and trying to become a
>> right-centrist party. People would have had no problems if BJP had no trust
>> on Pakistan, wanted India to become a super-power, and had stated that they
>> weren't embarassed on their Hindu roots.
>>
>> Instead, the BJP just seems hell bent on attacking minorities where and
>> when
>> they can (Kandhamal and Karnataka being best examples) and then wants
>> Muslims and Christians to vote for them! How do they expect a Muslim woman
>> to vote for them when under their reign, she was raped in the name of 'Jai
>> Shree Ram' by activists related to the larger parivar to which the BJP
>> belongs?
>>
>> Similarly on the issue of appeasement. It is right that the Congress and
>> others have practiced Muslim appeasement. But does this mean Muslims should
>> be punished? When Muslims haven't progressed, then it's the fault of the
>> Congress. How are they being then 'pampered'? Vote bank politics is
>> actually
>> to disadvantage of Muslims, and the BJP should have come to their rescue by
>> providing them development. Instead, the BJP gave them post-Godhra as gift.
>>
>> Fourth. Can Bipin jee inform me (or anybody else for that matter) as to the
>> proceedings under NDA which point to RTI? I would be glad to know.
>>
>> Fifth. Swathi jee, I think you raised two vital points. I agree with you
>> that it's not the Congress or the Left (do read this Bipin jee, this is for
>> you too) which brought either the NREGA or the RTI, it's the social
>> movements which brought them. And I appreciate the courage they showed in
>> their movement and the pressure they exerted, which was accepted by the
>> Left
>> at very late stage, and finally this act was introduced. One must never
>> forget the kind of pressure exerted by the Times of India-Economic
>> Times-Ambani-English mainstream media-their elitist friends combine, to
>> ensure the NREGA never got passed.
>>
>> But the larger point also remains that this govt did pass it. Would the NDA
>> have ever passed it? You know better than me what the answer to that would
>> be. Therefore, we must accept their small contribution to getting this act
>> passed and appreciate it, though the first credit to it lies with all those
>> who fought tooth and nail in the first place to get the act passed.
>>
>> And Bipin jee, the NREGA was brought through a social movement. Better go
>> and find about it rather than cribbing about policies you don't know a
>> thing
>> about. And as for your infrastructural development, the people of India
>> would want NREGA first rather than the Golden Quadrilateral.
>>
>>
>> The second point Swathi jee has raised is about an elected PM. Personally,
>> I
>> would have liked Manmohan Singh jee to fight the election and win it. That
>> would have silenced many people who always look upon him as the 'stooge of
>> Sonia'. However, unlike others, I wouldn't feel so bad about it. The larger
>> issue is always the livelihood of people, and while Sonia may not have the
>> responsibilities of the PM, she has the responsibilities of ensuring her
>> party wins elections. Therefore, even if the PM doesn't listen, she has to
>> listen to the voice of India, as she had to in the case of NREGA and RTI.
>>
>> Therefore, I don't worry much whether Manmohan is elected or not. I though
>> have another reason as to why a PM should be elected.
>>
>> When a PM like say Vajpayee gets elected and then becomes PM, he knows the
>> ways and means to win elections. And therefore he equally knows when to
>> start something, where to stop (why, where and when), where to set agendas
>> and where to start working upon them. Manmohan I don't think has that
>> political experience an elected PM have to manage his allies. This is clear
>> from the way he reacted at different times to the nuclear deal. His
>> reactions wouldn't have changed so much had he been an elected PM. Perhaps
>> he could have handled the Left better in that case.
>>
>> But again this is only my speculation. It may be true, or it may be false.
>>
>> And democracy is not about elections. It is about giving rights to citizens
>> and ensure that they are indeed actually provided those rights. So an
>> elected PM or not is not a big issue.
>>
>> What is are the rights of people to secure their livelihood.
>>
>> If the BJP gains this huge lesson from this election, I would be the most
>> happy person on this planet. And my frustration at this not happening is
>> what made me write in a nasty way, for which I am sorry. I would not repeat
>> that again.
>>
>> And if the BJP doesn't learn it, then we need another party to come at
>> centre to fight against Congress and displace BJP from its pole.
>>
>> And finally, the last word from one of my friends who also happens to be a
>> member of this list:
>>
>> The BJP lost because the revenues obtained through growth are spent only to
>> further growth. The Congress won because it spent partially the revenues
>> obtained through growth to bring up the poor to above-subsistence level and
>> contributed in some measure to equitable development in this manner.
>>
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Rakesh
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