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I wanted Congress to win but not with that kind of a margin of victory. It makes them complacent and lazy, as if they weren't all ready.
Its the right party for India, because its amorphous, appealing to all sentiments to a greater or lessor degree, accommodating, corrupt, a do nothing party, fat and bloaty, promises more than it delivers, no clear mission or objectives, but a mishmash of sloganeering and statements .......... otherwise a typical status quo Indian misgoverning party that delivers a certain degree of reassurance and therefore appropriate for the diverse Indian society.
I personally thought the April-May 2009 elections were rigged, in favor of the Congress Party, but that's another story. There are numerous fringe sources of how elections are bought in India if you want to follow up on that. But first you must over come the bias that India is not a pure democracy. Indeed the idea that most nations are pure democracies.
So on to the BJP.
A healthy democracy requires a strong opposition. Knit picking and attacking the ruling party. Congress can't, won't win the next election in 2014, but the BJP can if it gears itself up and gets it act together within the next five years. The BJP is less corrupt compared to the Congress Party (or so I like to think), and I tend to think it is administratively more effective, when in power. Unlike Congress it tends to be more focused, and follows through on its programs. It is a party which is not ashamed of being Indian, and most of its leadership aren't foreign educated products with alien ideas implanted into the Indian political system (Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi..........) Finally its leaders are democratically elected by the party; its not a kleptocracy dynasty structured party where the heirs are anointed due to their family lineage. (Congress Party)
Lord Macaulay had stated "We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and millions whom we govern-a class of persons Indian in blood and color, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect."--------Through the Congress Party, and its Dynastic politics neo-colonialism rules. India in order to become a proper self respecting power needs to detach from that, obviously.
So thats the pleasing part about the BJP.
The bad part, well rather obvious and I guess the reason why the under rated common Indian voters chose not to vote for them. You can't eat national flags, or patriotic sloganeering...............indeed such things are rather irrelevant to a dirt poor farmer in say Madhya Pradesh, burdened by debt, or a city slum dweller without real wage earning work. The Indian Middle class, and lower middle class I suppose will "buy" the flag waving and sloganeering for a while; their basic needs have been met....but even here, the core of BJP voters...the same slogans and same message heaved out of the BJP shed may not appeal to the same extent as they did before.
Not that I am saying Indian elections are about issues, with the common voter reading every word of the party manifesto's....but the general blurry gist has to meld with the overall national sentiment, otherwise...NO.
Varun, adolescent Varun, "we Hindus aren't soft touches" Varun, I'm really looking for a fight Varun, Varun hero of the BJP, the new generation vanguard, Ram temple, Ram temple, and some more Ram Temple, Varun, and Varun, and some more Varun, Bring back black money from Switzerland, Varun, Ram Temple, Hai Ram, ...............all packaged under a 81 year old geriatric leader was never going any where, with a bit of election fixing.
Quite simply for the BJP's sake, for the country's sake, the party has to change before it disappears into oblivion and irrelevancy in the Indian political scene, back to its 2 member seats of the 1980's a mere two decades ago..........................what a shame that would be. To be sure I was never happy about the BJP's communalism, how could I be? The problems of India aren't encapsulated by 160 million Muslims, or Pakistan, or anybody else. The fundamental problems of India, which require addressing sooner or later derive from the flaws of Indian society generally.
It is sheer intellectual laziness to suggest that somehow all the myriad of complex national problems within India are enshrined in a narrow platform of "the Muslims".
The problems/challenges of India are problems/challenges many Third World societies face, and the more successful, intelligent, thoughtful, organized Third World societies are diligently working with their people to solve such national problems----NOT bashing a bottom of the basket minority, and creating the false illusion that that will somehow ultimately solve ALL the countries problems eventually.
No true Indian leader should suggest or hint in that direction, by words, gestures or deeds. Otherwise you are doing a disservice to the nation by playing the misleading pied piper taking the gullible down the wrong alley, into the wrong solutions.
The challenges:
1. Terrorism......NE, Maoist and Pakistan backed.
2. Religious Intolerance/BJP.
3. Water Shortage/non monsoon season especially
4. Unequal economic development....poor economic planning. 840 million with minimal income surviving on 20 rupees a day. 55 billionaires.
5. Corruption.
6. Capital flight-----$1.5 trillion to $3 trillion.
7. Devalued Currency.
8. Unemployment.....hiring system. Colonial era/Socialist era employment laws.
9. Low Education.investment......poor quality education....poor quality teachers....poor quality students.........loss of the best to foreign countries. Lack of investment into research...R&D.
10.Weak Foreign Policy.........inconsistent foreign policy....the failure of SAARC, and relations with neighbors especially Pakistan. Aspires to be the regional power, is the regional power but no clear leadership.
11. Poorly performing agricultural sector./farmer debts/low investment and innovation.
12. RAW misadventures.
13..............Failed state characteristics/wikipedia/duplicate.
14. Foreign interference...USA/UK.........behind the scenes through the post-colonial elite.
15. Rapid population growth-----------largest population soon--2030?...........Unfortunately some of the big players and policy makers in India, and so called touted experts keep repeating that a continued population growth along the present trajectory is somehow good for India's future providing a youthful future generation who will increase productivity and demand for the future..........misses the fundamental point that any nation with X amount of resources, and Y level of effective governance can only deliver Z amount of goods and services which satisfy the overall population. My contention is, and I say this most emphatically that given the experience of the last 60 years it is highly unlikely that the "Indian state" will be able to satisfy even the basic needs of most of its people..............................there WILL still be a lot of poor people in India by 2030, never mind any additional new population (500 million more ????), and therefore logically India should very seriously with the zeal of Indira Gandhi think about containing the population growth meaningfully, comprehensively and quickly...............otherwise the overpopulation of India will create failed state characteristics such as those in Bangladesh (no real threat to anyone except as a liability to itself...........300 million by 2050)........and Pakistan about 400 million by 2050, a failed state slowly sliding into anarchy and war, especially in its Western parts.
16. Poor governance.....political parties/bureaucracy/poor leadership.
17. Poor environmental policies/ enforcement and awareness by public--state and national.
18. Post colonial elite...which has no fealty to India.......exemplified by capital flight.
19. Poor infrastructure.
20. Small industrial base.............28% of GDP...low investment in this sector.
21. Weak financial system.
22. Indian bureaucracy...............red tape.
23. Backward society and the inherent problems of any backward society, culturally and psychologically........religious obscurantism and fatalism...........Problems of society explained away as Karmic etc.
24. Indian colonial era police......corruption and criminality.
25. Cultural stagnation....crass, trash Western copy Bollywood/Hindi movies etc.
26. Social harmony and value......soaring crime rates etc....standard social norms.
27. Inconsistent defense policy---low defense expenditure; dreams of a great power mixed up with the true needs of India's defense.
28. Legal system, legal codes, and justice system over burdened, irrelevant and unIndian....does not meet the needs of the ordinary Indian.
29. Poor sanitary and health standards generally.
30. Poor nutrition producing a vast pool of low quality under performing generations....for the future....when did India last win a gold medal in the previous Olympics?
The national failures above are the failings of the Congress Party which has more or less ruled India for the last 62 years approaching, nobody else.
Obviously the BJP can't go into the next elections with geriatric Advani at 86, OBVIOUSLY NOT. The party needs to move on, and present a fresh face and some more new messages. Preferably new messages which are more in line with the national sentiment, and the overall complex Indian society. North all the way to Chennai, from the West all the way East to Arunchal Pradesh.
Arun Jaitley seems intelligent, cosmopolitan and most importantly the right age (56). He should be chosen as the next head of the BJP into the next elections, and Advani should be moved out and retired writing his memoirs and biography.
Some secretly want Modi to be the next head of the BJP but the problem with Modi is that he is fundamentally a divisive character who will further divide India. Yes, Yes, Yes Mussolini and Hitler created jobs, made pretty young men in uniform march down the street, instilled a sense of national pride and discipline, falsely, .................and made sure the trains ran on time.....and all that, but in the process they also further destroyed MORE than they ever created, which had a lasting good effect. Modi is a good state minister, if you like conceded in a gangsterism way, but only a good state minister.......not a national leader.
The BJP should sort itself out quickly.
