ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Chetan Bhagat’s views on Indo-Pak relationship –‘Let’s not confuse peace with love’ (TOI 07-02-10) are well intended and interesting. However, our good neighbour is not interested in establishing permanent peace with us for the reason best known to them. There is something wrong with the mindset of their leaders – both military and political. The epicenter of international terrorism is Pak. The perpetrators of 26/11 and host of international criminals are sheltered and protected by the establishment there. Recently, Vir Sanghvi had written a thought provoking and excellent article in Hindustan Times – ‘There is a method to their madness’ clearly explaining the sequent of events in their madness. Our Prime Minister having tried his level best with different leaders in Pak, has finally made the statement not long ago –‘I donot know whom to talk in Pakistan’. Leaders in Pak talk in different tones, change their stance according to their convenience and there is no consistency in their stand on issues. What kind of peace initiative one can expect from such leaders. Peace has been given enough chances, now it is time to show our might.

AMAR SINGH DAYS ARE OVER

Vir Sanhgvi got it wrong again on Amar Singh. (Do not write Amar off yet, he will be back HT 10-01-10). Firstly, Amar Singh is either a mass or a class or a charismatic leader like Indira Gandhi to make a spectacular come back, in Indian politics. His influence is restricted to some pockets, in Uttar Pradesh. The days winning the election solely on the support of caste, religion, which was the trump card of Yadav trios, are over. The recent election results in UP and other states are a clear indication in this regard. The young, educated, informed and matured voters of our country cannot be taken for a ride, as were done in the earlier periods. Rahul Gandhi’s down to earth approach is doing wonders for the Congress in UP as well as in other states. He knows how to connect himself with young urban voters. Come 2014 parliament election, these regional parties and leaders will become irrelevant in Indian politics.

PAK WILL QUIT ONE DAY

The rate at which the guns and the suicide bombers are out in the streets of PAK, will soon get the coveted title - as failed state - number one in the world. The monoester the Establishment created to wage proxy war against India is fighting against the establishment itself. The day is not far off, PAK will not able to defend its own land and the thought of annexing J and K will be out of their brain. The Kashmiris surely would not want have any kind of relationship with the country ridden with innumerable problems. The USA will reduce its massive financial assistance to PAK in the coming years. That will make PAK bleed. It will turn to other countries for help, including India. One day it will say we have no issue with India on J and K. That will happen in the near future.

PERFECT IDIOTS

The producer, director and the lead actor of the recently released film 3 - IDIOTS, behaved in a manner befitting the film’s title at the press conference organized for the promotion of the film. When a journalist remarked whether the script is 70% based on the novel, the producer lost his cool and shouted at the journalist like an idiot. The question is not 70 percent or 5 percent derived from the novel. It is about giving due credit to the author. The producer should have gracefully accepted the mistake and made necessary correction to give credit in the beginning, prominently, along with other credits. While making a film based on the novel, story line has to be changed keeping in mind the audience preferences and the box-office. The fact remains that the film script is based on the novel and the author is entitled to the credit. It appears, because of the box-office success of the film the trios were talking in a different tone. However, much to the disliking of the producer, Chetan Bhagat, through this controversy got more credit and publicity.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

WOMEN RESERVATION BILL: TIME IS RIPE

H D Deve Gowda-led United Front government, in1996, first introduced the legislation to reserve 33.3 percent seats in Parliament and state legislatures for women. Though it has been introduced in Parliament several times since then, the Bill could not be passed because of lack of political consensus. The idea of making a legal provision for reserving seats for women in Parliament and the State Assemblies first came up during Rajiv Gandhi's tenure as Prime Minister.

The time is now very ripe to get it passed in both the houses. One could not have asked for a better time. The president of the largest democracy in the world is a woman. The president of the national political party with a history of 125 plus years and which is the major ruling partner of UPA -2 is a woman. The leader of opposition in the LS and the speaker of LS are women. The chief minister of the most populous state is a woman. Woman heads the Trinamool Congress, major partner of UPA 2. The all-powerful general secretary who is in charge in AIDMK is a woman. There is woman Politburo member of CPM, who is also a member of Rajya Sabha. We have a woman chief minister in New Delhi. The opposition to the bill came from Yadav trio and Paswan. The strength and bargaining power of this group has come down substantially after the 2009 LS election. There is no threat to UPA government from this group. The UPA -2 should get the bill passed immediately in both the houses and send it the president for doing the needful.

POLITICS OF PERSONAL AGENDA

ACT-I. Lead players – Reddy brothers.

The powerful Reddy brothers hijacked 40 odd MLAs and kept them in resorts in Hyderabad, Goa and other places. They threatened to pull down the only BJP government in the South, if their demands are not met. Among others, they insisted that in the larger interest of the state, BSY should step down. This was during the period, when the parts of north Karnataka was facing severe humanity problems caused by unprecedented floods. The elected representatives instead of overseeing the relief work were enjoying their paid holidays in resorts. Sensing the seriousness of the problem the party high command deputed Arun Jaitely to bengaluru to work out a peace deal. Jaitely held series of discussion with top rung leaders and as well as with other office bearers. Discussions continued for three days. The Reddy brothers did not budge. Jaitely returned to Delhi empty handed. Some BJP leaders also held meeting with RSS functionaries in the city. In the meanwhile, the warring Reddy brothers intensified their stand. They were even not ready to meet BSY for any discussions. The drama shifted to Delhi. Janardhan Reddy who was camping in Delhi, met the then party president Rajnath Singh, their god mother Sushma Swaraj and others. The leaders in turn interacted with Advani. The meeting and interaction went on for three days. BSY was summoned to Delhi. Some understanding was reached with Reddy brothers except the removal of BSY. The high command warned the Reddy brothers to toe in line or face the consequences. Reluctant Reddy brothers accepted the truce. Most of their demands (personal agenda) have been met. The first casualty of this truce was removal of the most efficient and only woman minister from the ministry. The other demands considered with the public knowledge are shifting of efficient, honest and straightforward senior beurocraft. The CM also reversed his own orders of transferring various officials in the Bellary district. The coordinating committee was expanded to include more members from the Reddy group. In the meanwhile, the temperature was cooled down in bengaluru with the on set of winter.

ACT-II. Lead players - Renuka Charya and Bellubbi

BSY, managed to save his chair and confessed that in the dirty game of power politics, the values and principles have been thrown to the wind. He also admitted that God also would not forgive him for his selfish acts. In politics chair is more important than any thing. The group of MLAs who supported Reddy brothers were hoping that some of them would made ministers. BSY categorically stated there would not be any expansion until the budget. The dissidents in the meanwhile started visiting various Mutts to put pressure on the CM. The dissidents re enacted the resort politics. The hapless CM relented to the pressure tactics. After having discussions with his senior colleagues, the CM announced that Renuka Charya would inducted to the ministry on 24-12-09 and one more MLA, probably Bellubbi will be accommodated in the ministry in Jan2010. Personal agendas are achieved. The life, for people of flood affected areas in north Karnataka have not changed for better. Long live our politicians. Long live our democracy.

NON PARTICIPANT WINS THE RACE

Nitin Gadkari did not participate in the race. However, the umpire using his discretion declared Gadkari as the winner,much to the dissatisfaction of the participents. The RSS finally got its man as the president of the saffron party. Gadkari is new to national politics. He has not won a direct election. He is not a member of either Loksabha or Rajya Saba. This makes his task difficult.He has a very challenging task in rebuilding the party from the grass root level. This depends on the cooperation he gets from various factions within the party. The once disciplined party, is now has enough indisciplined and dissident MLAs and MPs and office bearers, in various states, Rajasthan and Karnataka being in the prominet ones. The success of his tenure as president will heavily depends on the cooperation being extended by senior leaders like Arun Jatley, Sushma Swaraj, Ananth Kumar, Venkaiah Naidu, Rajnath Singh, Narendra Modi and others, including leaders from his own home state. Gadkari is known for his straightforward attitude. However, his recent assertion that RSS had no role in his elevation to the top post is far from the truth. The whole world knows what went on behind the scene. Best wishes to him.

BANK MERGERS: EMPLOYEES SHOULD SEE REASON: SIZE MATTERS

The strike by employees of state owned banks against mergers is unwarranted and uncalled for. Mergers actually results in overall benefits to all stakeholders when the consolidated post-merger entity is more valuable than the simple sum of the two separate pre-merger units. The primary cause of this gain in value is in the performance improvement following the merger. The post-merger focuses on improvements in all types of efficiency, led by the increased cost efficiency. The mergers have been motivated by a belief that a significant quantity of redundant operating costs could be eliminated through the consolidation of activities. Substantial geographic overlap reduces the number of branches in markets. A related effect of mergers is increase in market share in the very very competitive market. More over public sector banks are not being merged with private sector banks. The government has assured to the employees that there will be no change in the service conditions, emoluments, terminal benefits etc. The ownership still remains with the government. The move is to create banks of international size, to play a significant role in the world economy in the changed economic scenario.

BJP’S WRONG PRIORITIES

The assertion of Sushma Swaraj, senior BJP leader in the LS that if their party forms a government at the Center next time, Ram temple will be on top of the priority list, indicates that the BJP has not learnt any lessons from its past mistake. It is again trying to play the religion ‘card’ to come to power at the Center. It has no other issues to fight. BJP has no programme and policies for the country’s burning problems. There is poverty, hunger, unemployment, power shortage and lack of infrastructure both in urban and rural region. The country needs major reforms in education, health and housing sectors to enable the poorest of the poor, the underprivileged and the deprived sections of the society to avail the benefits from such reforms and improve their standard of livings. Instead of debating on such issues, the party is trying to disturb the secular fabric of the country again. If building temple is going to be the main poll agenda of the BJP, the chances of BJP forming government at the Center are very very bleak.