.
.
.
I read the Times of India, to keep updated with the country. It is a center right rag which embarrassing for me fawns over ALL things USA, and most irritatingly Goondawood. But still, it has some good interesting variegated articles which reflect ALL shades of political opinion, save MJ Akbar's. It exists in a competitive commercial environment where news from the internet becomes more relevant for an increasing number of people around the world. Hard news can be found in it by news junkies.
I think Black money is the THE ISSUE of the day, and at a secondary level corruption in India, and how the 9% annual growth rates WILL benefit the majority of aam aadmi, who become increasingly anxious about the matter.
More than probable Congress won the last election in 2009 through spending a lot of money, and also probably by using "Black money" from defense contracts. Congress also won the election because the opposition was weak....very weak with nothing to offer the cosmopolitan nuanced nation except Ayodhya, flag waving and sectarianism.
The only defense of Congress I can make around last Saturday is that Baba Ramdev's who was allegedly undertaking a neutral political protest........... was wearing Saffron clothes, which has certain political connotations in India. Did he wave the talwar, sometimes during the proceedings?????? Thats pretty provocative. Then later in retreat threatened that he would establish an "armed militia"......well, not quite Anna Hazare is it, and peaceful protest to make a point.
Congress for obvious reasons is nervous, and reactive. It has been in power for most of the last 63 years, and has a lot to answer for.
______________________________
Shobhan Saxena in TOI blog.
At the very beginning, let me make it clear that I am not a fan of yoga guru Ramdev. He may be a good yoga teacher but it's hard to believe some of his claims. Ramdev may be Baba Bizarre and maybe he is also involved in shady land deals, but no one – not even the government or Congress party – can deny him the right to raise social and political issues or organize rallies and demonstrations in the national capital. You may or may not agree with his thinking but one can’t take away his right to raise the issues in whatever way he wants. Until and unless he breaks the law, the government can’t take any action against him.
But last Saturday, the government lost all sense of balance when it sent Delhi Police and Rapid Action Force troopers to break Ramdev’s camp at Ramlila Maidan. Like scabs breaking a union strike with clubs and batons, the government troops moved into the camp in the middle of night and used tear gas, canes and lathis to wake up thousands of people sleeping there. Men and women and children were beaten. Women and children were forced to walk towards the railway station and left on the road. While the yoga guru vanished, the ordinary people who had come here from all parts of the country had to bear the brunt of police brutality. That day Delhi looked like Srinagar.
The next day, at least five Congress leaders appeared on television giving five different reasons why the police action was “inevitable”. The way this government and Congress party has handled this issue – first sending four ministers to the airport to receive Ramdev and having secret confabulations with him at a hotel to co-opt him and use him as a counter-force against Team Anna Hazare and then cracking down on his camp when they failed to strike a deal with him – it’s clear that this government has lost its direction and the Congress party has lost the plot.
(Where is the Italian Mafia Sonia? Where is the Playboy Rahul ?....the next would be Raja)
The Congress leaders are so busy enjoying the fruits of power and so anxious to maintain their hold over power that almost all of them are making a fool of themselves on national television (it makes good TV but bad politics). Speaking on a channel, Congress spokesman Manish Tiwari said the Ramdev camp was attacked because people from the RSS and other right-wing groups were present on the stage and they were actually running the show. This is the same Congress party whose prime minister was sleeping on December 6, 1992, when the Babri Masjid was razed to the ground by fanatics. This is the same Congress party whose prime minister invited a 3500-strong contingent of RSS to take part in the Republic Day parade in 1963. Probably Manish Tiwari should reboot his memory and recall the Emergency days when the Congress' Prince of Darkness, Sanjay Gandhi, was openly admired by the RSS as government bulldozers rampaged through Muslim slums and bastis. The secret handshake between the Congress and RSS is not a secret anymore. Nor is the fact that for the Congress party the RSS is a Rottweiler on the leash which can be unleashed any time to strike fear into the minds of the minorities and those who are scared of or not comfortable with the RSS philosophy.
(Sikhs 1984)
The same day Kapil Sibal, who has become the biggest troubleshooter for the government, appeared on TV, justifying the police action and giving a stern warning to the whole nation. “Let this be a lesson to everybody,” Sibal said with a scowl. “The yoga teacher should teach yoga and not indulge in politics,” he added. So, we have reached such a stage when a Union minister will decide who can do politics in this country. Does it mean that the people of this country now have to take permission from the Congress party and UPA government and Kapil Sibal before forming a political organization or raising a political issue? The government has made its intention very clear by putting the entire capital under Section 144, though not a single violent incident happened in the city. All the violence happened from the government side. The clampdown is not against illegal meetings, it’s a clampdown on politics. If the views and opinions are inconvenient to the government and party, there will be action. “We can rein in”, in the words of Sibal.
And the next day, when a mentally deranged man, Sunil Kumar, showed a shoe to Congress spokesman Janardan Diwedi at a press briefing, a group of journalists and Congress workers pounced on him and Congress leader Digvijay Singh, who is now become the attack dog of the party, arrived at the scene and punched and slapped the poor sod who did not know what was happening. (Not what a top leader of the Congress should be doing when spreading the LOVE, national reconciliation and compromise. If only this kind of toughness could be displayed against corruption in India; ministers who work for foreign powers; poor infrastructure; poverty......) ...............Later, Digvijay went on TV to claim that the man with the shoe was a RSS worker and he was sent by the organization to disrupt the press briefing. Even if Sunil Kumar was a RSS worker, what right does Digvijay Singh have to slap him? Is it right to inflict violence on a man who needs medical help? Is this the way the Congress party deals with complex situations? Why can’t the Congress party just ban the RSS and dismantle its organization if it’s such a huge threat to the country? No, the party will not do that as it benefits from the the fear of RSS.
From these incidents and utterances of Congress leaders, it’s clear that the party has decided to hit back hard -- at the people. Cornered by a number of corruption cases, the Congress-led government has not done anything to give an impression that it’s serious about tackling corruption. It’s not serious about nothing, only power. This party will do anything to keep itself in power. It’s so cut off from the wants, needs and aspirations of the people that it has no idea about the angry mood in the country. In the second year of its second term, the UPA government and Congress have lost the plot and they are deceiving themselves by being tough. They can deceive themselves but they can’t deceive the country.
